A North Korea cargo vessel has run aground off the coast of Mexico on Monday, according to a report by the Veracruz Ministry of Civil Protection.
The Mu Du Bong was headed to Tuxpan Port in the Mexican state of Veracruz, but has reportedly hit a reef approximately 7.5 km offshore.
Mexican authorities have said that there were no injuries or damage to the 6800 ton vessel but that the Mu Du Bong’s captain was “disorientated”. The vessel is also said to be empty, but scheduled to pick up a bulk cargo, meaning unpackaged goods like coal or grain.
“This is the first time I’ve seen a North Korean vessel within a couple of hundred km of U.S. waters, so in that regard it’s certainly unusual,” Leo Byrne, who set up the NK News vessel tracker said.
The North Korean ship is relatively large however, so moving the vessel “off the gulf floor will require some specialized work,” Veracruz state civil defense emergency chief Ricardo Maza said in a statement.
Mexican authorities are also trying to minimize damage to the reef, so it is currently unclear how long it will take to free the vessel.
The DPRK freighter left the Russian port of Nahkodka on May 1, listing its destination as Cuba. It passed through the Panama Canal six weeks later and headed for the port of Havana. The vessel ceased transmitting location data for a period of about one week before it was seen heading for the Mexican coastline last week.
Up until it left for Mexico, the ship’s path was similar to that of the Chong Chon Gang, the North Korean vessel which was caught smuggling munitions and soviet era weapons systems through the Panama Canal in July 2013.
According the Equasis shipping database, both vessels are administered by Ocean Maritime Management, a North Korea shipping enterprise with links to the North Korean government.
Featured Image: Eric Lafforgue
Join the influential community of members who rely on NK News original news and in-depth reporting.
Subscribe to read the remaining 321 words of this article.
EXISTING MEMBER?
