The damaged vessel being raided
Residents of Tema Newtown in the Greater Accra Region have raided an oil vessel belonging to a Nigerian oil dealer.
In the full glare of the owner of the vessel which split at the Tema Port anchorage, the miscreants made away with drums of oil and other items such as air conditioners, storage containers, generators, stabilizers, among others.
It is unclear what caused the vessel MV Yaris to split but the Marine and Security Department of the Port of Tema acted swiftly to salvage the vessel and crew members from sinking at the anchorage of the port.
Information available to DAILY GUIDE indicates that last month, the vessel which was carrying a consignment of oil from Nigeria berthed and discharged oil at the Tema Port.
The crew then noticed that the ship at the anchorage had developed cracks and leakages that needed immediate repairs to avoid sinking.
The Marine and Security Department was immediately informed and the vessel was towed away from the anchorage to a safe place.
Surprisingly, hundreds of residents including fishers woke up and found the vessel ‘fragmented’; they trooped in to steal items in the broken vessel.
Some of them swam into the vessel and stole valuable items. The melee nearly resulted in a scuffle among the looters who were bent on exploiting the situation.
Speaking with DAILY GUIDE, Richard Johnson, owner of the consignment on board the broken vessel, blamed the port authorities for the unfortunate situation.
According to him, port authorities had refused the vessel from entering into the port to dock since March 10, 2019, without any tangible reasons.
He believed that the weight on the vessel which had berthed at the anchorage for the past one month might have caused the splitting of the vessel.
However, the Port Security Manager at the Tema Port, Colonel Joseph Punamane, rejected the blame, citing some discrepancies in documents presented by the vessel owner with regard to the consignment on board.
From Vincent Kubi, Tema