Vanuatu authorities have released BW Epic Kosan-owned LPG carrier Inge Kosan with 11 of the 14 crewmembers reported positive for Covid-19.
The UK-flagged 3,800 dwt ship had been detained in Vanuatu after a body of a Filipino crewmember was found on a beach near Port Vila and later tested Covid-19 positive.
As a result, Vanuatu had banned outward travel from its main island for three days and placed 26 people who came in contact with the body in quarantine. According to reports, their bloodwork results were all negative for Covid-19.
Inge Kosan arrived in Port Vila to deliver gas, but when it left on Apri 11, the captain discovered one crewmen was not aboard and the vessel had to return to conduct a search and rescue operation.
The body was later found at Pango beach and the captain identified the missing Filipino national. His body was kept for almost a week in the Vila Central Hospital mortuary before testing positive for Covid-19.
It’s still unclear whether the Filipino crewman died from Covid-19, nor how he came to wash ashore on the island.
Following an investigation the vessel and its infected crew were allowed to leave for the Solomon Islands.
