Indian officials meet Indian crew on board tanker seized by UK

Indian officials have met the 24 Indian crew members who were on board shipping vessel 'Grace 1', which was detained by Gibraltar police authorities, and assured them that the government will take necessary steps to ensure their release and repatriation, the External Affairs Ministry said Thursday.

Iranian oil tanker 'Grace 1' was seized off the Spanish coast earlier this month by British marines and Gibraltar police.

A team of the Indian High Commission in London met the Indian crew and staff on board VLCC Grace 1 on Wednesday, Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan said.

"Crew's morale is high. Assured all assistance for early release. HCI London will facilitate necessary travel document and related arrangements," the minister tweeted.

MEA Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar, at a media briefing, said India had sought consular access which was granted on Wednesday and a three-member team visited and met all the 24 crew members.

"What we saw was that the crew members were very calm, very composed, and there was no sense of panic. They had been in regular touch with their family members. We had assured them that the government of India will undertake all the necessary steps to ensure their early release and repatriation," Kumar said.

Royal Gibraltar Police (RGP) had earlier said that the senior crew members who were arrested and questioned had been bailed as the investigating remained ongoing.

The Gibraltar government confirmed that “on an application by the Attorney General, the Supreme Court has extended the period of detention of the vessel, Grace 1, for a further 30 days and has set a new hearing for 15 August 2019.” The Gibraltar port and law enforcement agencies had detained the supertanker and its cargo on July 4 during an operation conducted by the RGP, Customs and Port Authority with the support of British Royal Marines.

A Gibraltar government statement reads: "The detention of the vessel relates to the suspected destination of the cargo, the Banyas refinery in Syria, which is owned by a company, the Banyas Oil Refinery Company. This company is the subject of European Union sanctions under EU Regulation 36/2012, which is directly applicable in Gibraltar,"

"The investigations of the Royal Gibraltar Police continue and the vessel remains detained under an Order of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Gibraltar," it said.

It said that after receiving the results of comprehensive laboratory testing, it had been confirmed that "the Very Large Crude Carrier, the Grace 1… is loaded to capacity with crude oil”.

"We look forward to continuing to work constructively and positively with officials of the Islamic Republic of Iran to facilitate the release of the Grace 1 pursuant to the satisfaction of all legal requirements," the semi-autonomous British Overseas Territory's Chief Minister, Fabian Picardo, told the local Parliament.

Iran had called for the UK to release its oil tanker and warned Britain not to get involved in "this dangerous game", which eventually led to Iran's seizure of a British-flagged tanker in the Gulf last week.

Tehran blames the US for arranging to have its ship seized in the wake of sanctions imposed against Iran with the aim of halting all its oil exports. European countries do not have sanctions against Iran but have had them in place against Iran's ally Syria since 2011.

Raveesh Kumar then gave an update about the 18 Indians on board the British oil tanker Stena Impero which was seized last week by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard in the Strait of Hormuz for what Tehran called alleged violation of international maritime rules, he said India has called for their early release and repatriation.

"We have sought access. We hope we are granted (access) very soon. We continue to impress upon Iranian authorities to release them so that they can be repatriated," Kumar said.