Iran says India given consular access to 18 crew of detained British vessel with Filipino aboard

LONDON — Iran granted India consular access to 18 Indian crew members of the detailed British vessel Stena Impero, the Iranian ambassador to Britain said.
"Indian Embassy in Tehran was granted consular access to meet the 18 Indian crew of the detained British ship Stena Impero," Hamid Baeidinejad said.
"Similar access is underway to other 5 crew from other nationalities. Indian embassy has reported to find the crew being very calm with no sense of panic."
Iran's Revolutionary Guards seized the British-flagged tanker last Friday.
The head of the Ports and Maritime Organization of Iran in Hormozgan Province told state TV over the weekend that the 23 crew members of Stena Impero tanker seized by Iran's Revolutionary Guards are all safe.
Britain has denounced Iran's seizure of the oil tanker in the Gulf on Friday as a "hostile act", rejecting Tehran's explanation that it had seized the vessel because it had been involved in an accident.
Stena Bulk, the vessel's Sweden-based owners, said on Saturday they were preparing a formal request to visit the crew, who are from India, Latvia, the Philippines and Russia. —Reuters

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