A Greek shipowner has hit out at Iraqi authorities who continue to hold a bulker involved in a deadly collision last year.

Twenty-one people onboard a diving support vessel died when it capsized after a collision with the 48,200-dwt Royal Arsenal (built 1999) at Umm Qasr in August 2017.

Iraqi Transport Minister Kazem Finjan has since ordered compensation be paid to the victims’ families after a local report found the Greek bulker 75% liable for the accident.