The LPG tanker and a gasoline tanker located in Tripoli port immediately left for safe waters, NOC confirmed, adding that it is exploring alternative ways to supply Tripoli and its surroundings with fuel.
“The city does not have operational fuel storage facilities as the capital’s main storage warehouse was evacuated as a result of the fighting on Airport Road area, where the warehouse is located. The consequences will be immediate; hospitals, schools, power stations and other vital services will be disrupted. We condemn this behaviour in the strongest possible terms and ask the international community to intervene rapidly to prevent a serious escalation in the conflict and to allow NOC to manage fuel supplies,” NOC Chairman Eng. Mustafa Sanalla said in a statement.
The evacuation comes after the Libyan National Army (LNA) said in an official statement on Facebook that its forces had destroyed a Turkish vessel carrying weapons and ammunition that was docked in the port of Tripoli. According to the LNA, by delivering the cargo, Ankara has violated an international agreement banning arms sales to the country. Turkey denied that the vessel was destroyed, claiming that there was no hit and that that the situation had calmed down after the return fire.