Explosion on an oil tanker off the coast of Libya: this is the fifth incident involving a tanker that called at a Russian port the day before

An explosion has occurred off the coast of Libya on the oil tanker Vilamoura, which is operated by a Greek company, The Maritime Executive reports. The vessel is signalling "out of control" and is already under tow.

What is known

According to the Vanguard consulting company, the incident occurred about 80 nautical miles off the coast of Libya. The 158,000-tonne tanker suffered an explosion, which caused the engine room to flood.

The ship was assisted by the ocean-going tug Boka Summit, which picked up the tanker near Benghazi on Saturday afternoon. According to the AIS (Automatic Identification System), both vessels are now heading towards Greece at a speed of about 4 knots.

And this is where the fun begins. Over the past year, Vilamoura has called on Russian ports twice - in Ust-Luga and in the Black Sea near Novorossiysk. It is not known exactly what she was doing there - due to active GPS interference, the route looks like an abstract artist's painting. However, it has been spotted near Sochi and Novorossiysk, both of which are major oil hubs.

Vanguard analysts do not rule out that the incident may be related to the installation of a limpet mine, a type of explosive that is attached to the side of a ship underwater. This has not yet been officially confirmed, but there are more than enough coincidences.

It should be noted that this is not the first such incident since the beginning of 2025. The list of victims includes the tankers Seajewel (flag of Malta), Seacharm (Marshall Islands), Grace Ferrum (Liberia) and Kola (Antigua and Barbuda). And you know what? All of them had also called at Russian ports shortly before the explosions.

Source: The Maritime Executive