An oil tanker laden with tonnes of petrol steamed into the port of Benghazi on Thursday, with rebels on board claiming they seized the vessel from government control between Malta and Tripoli. The 182-metre (600-foot) long “Cartagena” docked shortly before midday local time (1000 GMT), the lip of its black hull pressed toward the water line under the weight of what rebels said were 73,000 tonnes of gasoline. A rebel soldier coming ashore said the vessel — which was emblazoned with the initials of the state-owned General National Maritime Transport Company — had been intercepted with the help of NATO two days ago “quite close to Tripoli.”
