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Experts are baffled after a huge oil tanker washed up on a beach with nobody on board.

The Tamaya 1's position hadn't been recorded for three weeks when it mysteriously appeared on the shores of Liberia in west Africa .

Locals were shocked to find that there was nobody on board and immediately raised the alarm – but police didn't respond for days.

The 64-metre tanker was on the way to the Sengalese port of Dakar and it was last seen on 21st April.

(Image: Preston Veteran Gaylor/Facebook)

Now officials are scrambling to work out why the Panama-registered vessel washed up with no crew.

Read more:'Cursed cruise ship' suffers norovirus outbreak as hundreds of passengers struck down

A port authority insider said: “Our best bet is that the vessel’s owner might have gone broke and had no money to pay crew members.

“And therefore, the crew abandoned the ship.”

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The ship was reportedly looted and vandalised as it lay beached on the shore amid fervent speculation that pirates were to blame for the baffling incident.

Police are now trying to keep locals away from the ship as they investigate.