Translated material
Completely lost
The saga of the disappearance of the Russian cargo ship Arctic Sea continues
For two weeks now, the world has been following with increasing interest the search for the Russian ship Arctic Sea, which disappeared in the Atlantic under very strange circumstances. Yesterday's reports that it allegedly entered the territorial waters of Spain (in particular, the port of San Sebastian), and that it was allegedly pursued by the patrol ship "Ladny" of the Black Sea Fleet, were not confirmed at the time of signing the newspaper issue.The cargo ship Arctic Sea (formerly "Okhotskoye", built in 1991, flies under the flag of Malta, operator Solchart Arkhangelsk Ltd, crew of 15 Russian sailors with a cargo of timber worth $2 million) was supposed to arrive in Algeria on August 4. Arctic Sea was loaded with timber in the Finnish port of Pietarsaari, and before the ill-fated voyage, the cargo ship spent two weeks undergoing repairs in Kaliningrad.
According to information received from the ship, on the night of July 24, near the Swedish island of Oland in the Baltic Sea, the cargo ship was stopped by a motor boat. Ten masked armed men boarded the ship, posing as representatives of the Swedish police, the crew was isolated from all means of communication and even tied up, and the ship was thoroughly searched, allegedly to detect drugs. However, according to the headquarters of the International Maritime Organization located in London, the Swedish authorities did not confirm that they sent personnel from the relevant services to intercept the Arctic Sea and denied the presence of any information in this regard.
After 12 hours, some (or all) of the invaders abandoned the Arctic Sea, disabling communications equipment. This was allegedly reported by the captain of a cargo ship, but perhaps he conducted the conversation at gunpoint, as some maritime piracy experts now believe.
After the attack, the ship continued to move along the route and, having passed the English Channel, the cargo ship headed for Portugal, but did not enter the Mediterranean Sea. In any case, the Spaniards guarantee that a ship of this class cannot pass through the Strait of Gibraltar undetected.
The last time Arctic Sea made contact was on July 29, when the English Channel passed, The Independent newspaper writes. The British Coast Guard did not notice anything suspicious during the radio contact, but it is likely that either a pirate or a sailor spoke to the British at gunpoint.
The cargo carrier identification system (AIS) signal was last received on July 30 at 1.29 GMT from the western Bay of Biscay. In addition, the media learned that the Swedish police made telephone contact with the cargo ship Arctic Sea on July 31 - two days after the last radio contact with the British Coast Guard vessel in the English Channel. However, the Swedish police do not comment on this matter. It is strange that only a week after the incident in the Baltic, the shipowner told the Swedish authorities that on July 24, the ship was attacked off the coast of Sweden.
On August 11, Interpol warned member countries of this international police organization that the cargo ship Arctic Sea had been captured by sea pirates. According to Interpol, the ship continues to be held by pirates after an overnight attack in Baltic waters.
On August 12, the British newspaper The Sun suggested that the Arctic Sea captured by pirates could be in one of the ports of West Africa. Some foreign media have put forward a version that the theft of the ship could have been carried out out of purely commercial interests, with the crew involved in the operation. In this case, the vessel is changed in appearance and sold with false documents, as is done with stolen cars. However, in this kind of “secondary” market, small vessels such as yachts are usually in demand; such scams have not yet been carried out with large vessels.
Only on Tuesday, August 11, the Solchart company, which owns the missing Arctic Sea, turned to the Russian authorities for help in finding the ship. Almost simultaneously, the sailors' wives made a similar request to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
On Wednesday, August 12, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev instructed Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov to take all necessary measures to detect and, if necessary, release the Arctic Sea vessel. Russian Navy ships located in the Atlantic are involved in the search. All detection means are used, including space ones.
The main task is assigned to the patrol ship "Ladny" of the Black Sea Fleet, which passed the Strait of Gibraltar on August 12 and follows the expected route of the missing ship. The search also involves four more Russian Navy ships, which are heading from Sevastopol to Baltiysk. There have also been reports in the media about the participation of Russian nuclear submarines in the search for the Arctic Sea. The press secretary of the Minister of Defense, Alexei Kuznetsov, did not provide much clarity, saying that submarines perform their specific tasks in various areas of the World Ocean: “These tasks, as well as the location of submarines, are not commented on.” However, according to experts, warships and submarines are not able to find the vessel in the vast waters of the Atlantic, and only involving space satellites in the search, and not only Russian ones, can give any real result.
Experts and the press put forward many versions about the reason for the disappearance of the ship. Of these, the most exotic is that on board the ship there was some extremely important cargo, not declared in the ship’s documents, which could be transferred under the cover of darkness to another ship, and to divert attention, the kidnappers forced the crew to conduct a radio game for almost a week with the ship’s owners and coastal services . After which the sailors could be locked in the hold, while the ship plows the ocean with the engines running on autopilot.
A version has also been put forward that the crew was immediately captured by pirates, AIS could have been installed on any small vessel following the “correct route”, but in reality the vessel is located in any secluded African bay, disguised as some half-submerged barge. Unfortunately, experts do not rule out the sinking of the ship.