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Russian website picks up signal from missing freighter Arctic Sea
The mystery surrounding the whereabouts of the missing freighter Arctic Sea took a new twist yesterday afternoon when it was reported that its tracking system had been broadcasting signals off the coast of France.Sovfrakht, a Russian maritime web site, said the signals could be traced to the Bay of Biscay, near the port of La Rochelle. They were reportedly detected around 8.30am yesterday, but the website said it could not confirm whether the Automatic Identification System equipment was still on the ship itself. The Maltese-flagged vessel was reportedly seen on Friday off the northern coast of Cape Verde in the Atlantic. But the sighting could not be confirmed and was later denied by Russia's ambassador to Cape Verde. The 4,000-tonne vessel was meant to arrive in Béjaïa in Algeria with its cargo of around £1m worth of timber on 4 August, but it is unknown what became of it following its last official recorded position off northern France on 30 July. The ship passed through the English Channel on 28 July on its way from Finland. Previously, the ship's 15-strong Russian crew had reported that they had been boarded on 24 July in Swedish waters by up to a dozen masked men. The crew said the men left 12 hours later after tying them up, questioning them about drugs and beating them. It has been suggested that the ship has been boarded by pirates or that it is the subject of a commercial dispute. There have also been claims that the vessel is carrying a "mystery cargo" of arms or drugs, but these were denied by the ship's owners. Posted by: Steve White 2009-08-16 |
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