India has made an official appeal to the maritime administration of Iran to release immediately the oil tanker Desh Shanti, which has been in its custody since August 12.
In its petition filed on August 28, the Directorate-General of Shipping pointed out that the repeated inspections of the vessel have revealed that the Indian ship did not cause any pollution as alleged by the Iranian authorities.
“Being deeply concerned on the detention of the vessel, particularly considering the innocent seafarers on the vessel who had been kept under ‘virtual captivity’ for over three weeks now, this administration is constrained to make this formal appeal against the detention of M.T. Desh Shanti,” the petition said.
Based on the satellite pictures of the alleged oil slick, corroborated by the vessel’s position report and ship’s track record, the Indian ship was 85 nautical miles and 400 nautical miles away on July 29 and July 30, respectively, from the alleged pollution site.
“We have not been provided with any other documentary evidence by your administration, contrary to the above, to even indicate any involvement of M/T. Desh Shanti in the alleged pollution incident,” the petition said.
The petition has pointed out that the Iranian maritime administration failed to follow the procedures prescribed under the International maritime Organisation resolution on oil pollution.
Under the resolution, the Iranian administration was supposed to send a detailed report on the involvement of the vessel in the pollution incident to the Indian authorities before detaining the vessel.
“However, as the flag administration of the subject vessel, this Directorate, has not received any report from your end establishing any involvement of the vessel in the misconceived pollution incident, till date” the petition said.