Pola

A suspicious object feared to be a limpet mine was found attached to the hull ofthe 'Pola' in the Persian Gulf near the city of Basra. The managers of the vessel, Dynacom Tankers of Greece, issued a brief statement confirming the incident and saying that the crew had been mustered and was safe while an investigation was ongoing. It was unknown whether the device found was viable and thus failed to explode or was placed as a 'dry run'. The 'Pola' has been moored at the Kaz anchorage for the past several days south of the Al Bakr Terminal performing ship-to-ship oil transfers. A second tanker, the 'Nordic Freedom', was alongsid when the crew spotted the suspicious device. The crew of the 'Nordic Freedom' assisted in obtaining pictures of the device. The crew followed international protocols and was immediately mustered while port and local authorities were also notified. A brigade of bomb squad from the Ministry of the Interior was airlifted to the port of Fao and dispatched to the ship, in coordination with the Iraqi Navy. Despite strong waves, the brigade managed to evacuate the second ship and continued the deactivation work which was successfully completed on Jan 2.

Sailors involved in transferring fuel oil from an Iraqi tanker in the Persian Gulf to the 'Pola' discovered a “suspicious object” they fear could be a mine on Dec 31, 2020. The tanker was receiving assistance off Basra. Ambrey Intelligence and Dryad Global said that investigations were ongoing. The United Kingdom Marine Trade Operations said on its website that an “unknown object” had been attached to the ship’s hull in the vicinity of Iraq’s Khor Al-Zubair Port, without providing further information.