Cargo vessel captain may face arrest following Beirut explosion

Beirut

In what looks, on the face of it, to be a classic case of the criminalisation of seafarers, Maritime Executive reports that Interpol has issued an arrest warrant for the master of the Rhosus, the cargo ship that brought the lethal consignment of ammonium nitrate, the cause of last year’s tragic explosion in the port of Beirut. Its owner abandoned the vessel while it was docked in Beirut in 2013-2014, and its cargo was subsequently unloaded by port officials and stored in a nearby warehouse. “The former captain of the freighter Rhosus has been flagged for extradition in connection with the blast caused by the vessel’s final cargo – even though that cargo was seized by port officials seven years ago, the ship sank three years ago and the captain has long since retired,” Maritime Executive reports.