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Crew of detained British tanker to remain on board until investigation is over — agency

Now there are 23 members of the crew on board

TASS, July 20. All crew members of the British oil tanker Stena Impero, detained by the Iranian authorities in the Strait of Hormuz are on board the vessel in Bandar Abbas, and they will remain there until the investigation is complete, the Fars agency informed on Saturday.

According to a local official, the British tanker "was involved in an incident" with an Iranian fishing boat, after which it was detained. "The tanker is in the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas, and all 23 members of the crew will remain on board until the investigation [of the incident] is over," the agency quotes the official as saying.

The IRNA agency reported on Friday that Iran's elite forces Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) detained a British tanker Stena Impero over the vessel's "violation of international rules." According to the IRGC, the tanker was escorted to the shore for inspections.

President and Chief Executive of Stena Bulk (the Swedish company that owns the vessel) Erik Hanell said that "there are 23 seafarers onboard of Indian, Russian, Latvian and Filipino nationality." A spokesperson for Stena Bulk earlier told TASS that there are three Russian citizens on board the detained tanker.