ROME — For weeks, a huge, unmanned Russian fuel tanker has been drifting aimlessly in the Mediterranean Sea, after its crew abandoned ship following a drone attack, according to the Russian government.
The 900-foot ship has a gaping hole in its green hull, aerial footage shows, and in the words of a senior Italian official, Alfredo Mantovano, “it is an environmental time bomb that threatens to cause serious damage throughout the surrounding area of the Mediterranean Sea.”
Yet amid a growing outcry, no one is rushing to take responsibility for the ship’s fate.
Italian authorities said Wednesday that the ship was approaching Libya but warned that Italy could not monitor it closely because it was not in Italy’s national waters. Libyan authorities warned Wednesday that ships and oil platforms off the Libyan coast should look out for the listing ship but announced no concrete response.
Russia has blamed the attack on Ukraine and called on Mediterranean countries to deal with the fallout. Ukraine, which has sometimes attacked Russian tankers, has not commented on the ship. Malta has said it has a contingency plan, but stopped short of saying if or when it would be enacted.
Nine European countries have written to the European Union, calling on it to coordinate a plan to avert “imminent and serious risk of a major ecological disaster in the heart of the Union’s maritime space,” according to a letter seen by The New York Times.
None have commandeered the vessel.
The tanker, called the Arctic Metagaz, has been adrift since the attack March 3, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry. It was carrying at least 700 tons of fuel and some liquid natural gas, the ministry later added.
The ship left Egypt in late January, according to VesselFinder, a maritime tracking service, and was attacked southeast of Malta, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry.
