Missing Russian merchant vessel located, crew safe
17 Aug 2009
Astrakhan: The missing merchant vessel, Arctic Sea, has been found and its crew taken onboard a Russian warship, the Russian defence minister has said. He also said that more details would be provided over the next few hours.
"At 1:00 p.m. Moscow time [09:00 GMT], it was found 300 miles off Cape Verde islands. The crew is alive. They were taken to the Ladny frigate," Anatoly Serdyukov said. The minister also said that an investigation was underway "to identify the circumstances behind the vessel's disappearance and its failure to make radio contact."
Earlier on 14 August, French defence ministry officials had reported seeing a vessel resembling the Arctic Sea near one of the islands off Cape Verde, the location where it eventually appears to have been located. French officials said they had relayed its location to Russian and Maltese officials.
The Maltese-flagged cargo ship left Finland with a cargo of timber on 22 July en route for Algeria. The ship last made radio contact with British coastguards on 28 July.
According to Interpol, the ship was briefly seized in Swedish waters of the Baltic Sea by masked men claiming to be police on 24 July. Reports state that after 12 hours the men left the ship and the Arctic Sea resumed its voyage.
