A team of U.S. Navy SEALs has taken over control of the seized tanker Morning Glory, the Pentagon officials said this morning.
The operation, approved by the U.S. President Obama, was carried out last night around 2am GMT upon the request of the Libyan and Cypriot governments.
“ No one was hurt tonight when U.S. forces, at the request of both the Libyan and Cypriot governments, boarded and took control of the commercial tanker Morning Glory, a stateless vessel seized earlier this month by three armed Libyans, ” said Rear Adm. John Kirby at the Pentagon.
The SEAL team, supported by a helicopter from the guided missile destroyer USS Roosevelt (DDG-80), concluded the boarding operation just after 10 p.m. EDT on March 16 in international waters southeast of Cyprus.
The vessel was carrying a cargo of 234,000 barrels of crude oil, illegally taken from the Libyan government National Oil Company by the rebels.
A team of sailors from the USS Stout (DDG-55) will supervise the transit of the Morning Glory to a port in Libya.
[mappress] defense, March 17, 2014