Tweet
Russian navy joins hunt for ship
Russia's navy has been deployed to find a ship reportedly hijacked three weeks ago in the Baltic Sea.
Up to five vessels - reported to include nuclear submarines - will be involved in the search for the Maltese-flagged Arctic Sea, the navy confirmed.
It has a 15-strong Russian crew and was reportedly taking timber worth $1.5m (£900,000) from Finland to Algeria when it was boarded by gunmen on 24 July.
The Arctic Sea was last sighted off the north coast of France on 30 July.
British authorities say the 4,000-tonne vessel may have been spotted subsequently by a Portuguese coastal patrol aircraft, but its current location remains unknown.
Maltese authorities have said it is unlikely to be in the Mediterranean.
Click here for a map charting sightings of the Arctic Sea
"It would appear that the ship has not approached the Straits of Gibraltar, which indicates that the ship is headed out into the Atlantic Ocean," the Malta Maritime Authority said in a statement.
The Portuguese Navy too has said that the missing cargo ship has not passed through Portuguese waters.
Russia's navy has been deployed to find a ship reportedly hijacked three weeks ago in the Baltic Sea.
Up to five vessels - reported to include nuclear submarines - will be involved in the search for the Maltese-flagged Arctic Sea, the navy confirmed.
It has a 15-strong Russian crew and was reportedly taking timber worth $1.5m (£900,000) from Finland to Algeria when it was boarded by gunmen on 24 July.
The Arctic Sea was last sighted off the north coast of France on 30 July.
British authorities say the 4,000-tonne vessel may have been spotted subsequently by a Portuguese coastal patrol aircraft, but its current location remains unknown.
Maltese authorities have said it is unlikely to be in the Mediterranean.
Click here for a map charting sightings of the Arctic Sea
"It would appear that the ship has not approached the Straits of Gibraltar, which indicates that the ship is headed out into the Atlantic Ocean," the Malta Maritime Authority said in a statement.
The Portuguese Navy too has said that the missing cargo ship has not passed through Portuguese waters.
This is very peculiar. The official cargo isn't worth stealing, just timber. No black market for that, eh? The pirates, 8 riflemen in a RIB, all wore black clothing, ski masks and claimed to be Swedish Police looking for drugs. They searched the ship, beat the crew, smashed the radio and left the ship after 12 hours of drifting in the Baltic. The crew then continued the yourney, which is also strange. They should at least gone to a harbour to repair/replace the radio. It took several days before they could call their employer and tell what happened. Then it took several days more before Swedish authorities got a request from Russia to investigate a case of piracy. By then, the ship was already in the English Channel, and disappeared shorty after. It is now believed that the pirates didn't leave the ship at all. Perhaps the pirates shut down the AIS transponder when the story hit the news?
Comment