
A tanker that left Russia and ran into trouble off the coast of Senegal in November 2025 appears to have been deliberately targeted by explosives placed in strategic locations on its hull, according to video footage obtained and verified by RFI.
Having left the Russian port of Taman on 21 August, 2025, the Mersin – a tanker operated by Turkish shipping company Besiktas – first stopped in Togo before arriving in Senegalese waters.