ZEABORN Ship Management has confirmed the death of the master of the Spirit of Hamburg’s (IMO 9391660) in “a violent incident” at Port of Cartagena, Colombia late last week.
The master has been named as Captain Myo Tun Zaw, 50.
There have been conflicting media reports regarding who was involved in the incident.
In a statement from Zeaborn executives Michael Brandhoff, Erik Kruse, Rob Grool, the company expressed “our deepest sympathy to the family and friends of our valued colleague Captain Myo Tun Zaw”.
“We will never be able to really understand the pain and sense of loss that his loved ones must be feeling after they had sadly been informed by us that he was killed on board his ship in Cartagena on 16 April 2020,” the statement read.
“His officers and crew on board and all of us ashore share their grief and are asking ourselves what happened and why?”
According to Zeaborn, the Colombian Authorities are investigating and “through our representatives and crew we, as managers of the ship, are cooperating as much as we can with them”.
“Since the official investigation is continuing, we have no further information on the culprit(s) of this terrible crime,” Zeaborn stated.
“In the meantime we have noticed a lot of speculation on social media and in some of the traditional press on what might have happened. As long as the authorities have not finished their investigation and announced official results we believe it is inappropriate to draw any conclusions which are not only premature but also are extremely upsetting for our crew and their families at home.”
According to Zeaborn, The Isle of Man Register on its website has confirmed Colombian authorities have jurisdiction over the investigation of this crime.
The crew of the vessel originate from Myanmar, Ethiopia and Russia.
“They are all professional seafarers whom we are supporting to the best of our ability and who have been offered psychological help,” Zeaborn stated.
“Through local representatives in Myanmar we are doing our utmost to support the family of Captain Myo Tun Zaw as well as the direct family of the other seafarers at this extremely difficult time.”
