Hephaestus

MT or MV Hephaestus was a bunkering oil tanker which ran aground off Qawra, Malta on 10 February 2018 and was subsequently scuttled as a dive site off Xatt l-Aħmar, Gozo on 29 August 2022. Description MV Hephaestus was a steel-built tanker with a tonnage of 595 GRT. It was long, with a beam of . It had one 6 cylinder Ruston Stafford 6 CSRKM 4 Stroke diesel engine with a single shaft and one screw. The vessel's power was and it had a speed of . Career The vessel was built in 1965 by Broderna Jonssons Torrdocka (Kallansdso Varv AB) in Linköping, Sweden. By 2018, it was owned by the Orbiter Navigation Corp. and managed by Volont Maritime S.A. It was registered in Lomé, Togo. 2018 grounding At the time of the 2018 grounding, the Hephaestus was commanded by Bangladeshi captain Joynal Abedin. The other crew members were from Bangladesh, Russia and Egypt. The vessel had been at sea for about four months, and from January 2018 it had been anchored at Is-Sikka l-Bajda off Qawra, Malta while there was a dispute relating to payment of crew's wages.