The Panama-flagged oil tanker Tamaya 1 drifted ashore mysteriously on a beach near Robertsport, northern Liberia coast, on May 4 with no sign of captain or crew.
According to MarineTraffic, the vessel’s last known position was recorded on April 22, 2016, as the ship was steaming southward at 0.7 knots towards Senegal after leaving the port of Dakar in Senegal
Theories range from abandonment to piracy, although Tamaya 1’s last known position was well north of active Gulf of Guinea pirate groups who typically stick to the waters off Nigeria.
The Liberia national police and bureau of immigration inspected the ship, days after local residents first discovered it on the beach.
Local reports cite a source in Liberia’s port authority who said the vessel’s owner might have had no money to pay crew members
“Our best bet is that the vessel’s owner might have gone broke and had no money to pay crew members,” a source at the nation’s port authority told the Liberian Daily Observer. “And therefore, the crew abandoned the ship.”
