Name Limburg In service 2000 Name Maritime Jewel | Completed 1999 Out of service 2002 Length 332 m | |
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Fate Attacked October 6, 2002, Sold to Tanker Pacific Management, 2003 Builder Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering | ||
Maritime Jewel is a double hull oil tanker built in 2000; her length is 332 metres (1,089 ft) and her width is 58 metres (190 ft). She was known as MV Limburg until 2003.
Contents
Bombing
On 6 October 2002, Limburg was carrying 397,000 barrels (63,100 m3) of crude oil from Iran to Malaysia, and was in the Gulf of Aden off Yemen to pick up another load of oil. She was registered under a French flag and had been chartered by the Malaysian petrol firm Petronas.
While she was some distance offshore, suicide bombers rammed an explosives-laden dinghy into the starboard side of the tanker. Upon detonation the vessel caught fire and approximately 90,000 barrels (14,000 m3) of oil leaked into the Gulf of Aden. Although Yemeni officials initially claimed that the explosion was caused by an accident, later investigations found traces of TNT on the damaged ship.
One crew member, a 38-year-old Bulgarian named Atanas Atanasov, was killed, and 12 other crew members were injured. The fire was put out, and four days later Limburg was towed to Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The ship was renamed Maritime Jewel, bought by Tanker Pacific, and repaired at Dubai Drydocks from March to August 2003.
Economic impact
The attack caused the short-term collapse of international shipping in the Gulf of Aden and as a result, cost Yemen $3.8 million a month in port revenues.
Responsibility
Al Qaeda claimed responsibility for the attack on the Jehad.net website, which has since been shut down. Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, who allegedly also planned the USS Cole bombing, is thought to have been the mastermind of the attack. Osama bin Laden issued a statement, which read:
By exploding the oil tanker in Yemen, the holy warriors hit the umbilical cord and lifeline of the crusader community, reminding the enemy of the heavy cost of blood and the gravity of losses they will pay as a price for their continued aggression on our community and looting of our wealth.
On 3 February 2006, Fawaz Yahya al-Rabeiee, who had been sentenced to death for the Limburg attack, and 22 other suspected or convicted Al-Qaeda members escaped from jail in Yemen. Among them was Jamal al-Badawi, who masterminded the USS Cole bombing of 12 October 2000. Of the 23 escapees, 13 had been convicted of the Cole and Limburg bombings. On 1 October 2006, al-Rabeiee and Mohammed Daylami were shot and killed by Yemeni security forces during raids on two buildings in the capital Sana'a. One of al-Rabeiee's accomplices was also arrested during the raids.
In February 2014 Ahmed al-Darbi pleaded guilty before the Guantanamo military commission to helping plan several maritime terrorist attacks including the Limburg attack. By the time of the attack, al-Darbi was already detained at Guantanamo.