The East Sea cargo ship that carried more than 900 Kurdish immigrants to France more than a week ago is no longer registered in Cambodia as it was sold to an unidentified owner last December, the Chinese state news agency reported last weekend.
East Sea was flying the Cambodian national flag when it ran aground Feb 17 near a beach in Saint-Raphael, a luxury tourist resort in the French Riviera.
In a letter addressed to the French Foreign Ministry, quoted by Agence France-Presse, the Cambodian embassy in Paris said Wednesday the ship was formerly called “ZDHE” and registered under the number of IMO6622472, which expired on Dec 8 because of its sale to a new owner.
The embassy said that the Cambodia Shipping Corporation, which is in charge of registering foreign ships flying Cambodian flag, has not registered any ship named East Sea either, according to the Xinhua report.
The London-based Lloyds shipping company says East Sea has since last December been the property of a Syria-based company called Mohamed Ali Alaal and Partners. But Mohamed Ali Alaal and Partners said the ship was sold on last Dec 6 to a Lebanese called Wissam al-Ra’i.
