Russian sailor captured by pirates is alive

08.02.2011 Kaliningrad sailor from MV Beluga Nomination hijacked by pirates is alive and feels well, wrote Kaliningrad governor Nikolai Tsukanov in micro-blog Twitter on Monday.

"We do whatever possible to release the captured vessel and the crew. Unfortunately, there's some additional information, and I'll tell about it later. The engineer of Beluga Nomination feels well, we're in close contact with foreign ministry and shipowner", said Tsukanov.

Late in Jan 2011 it was reported that Antigua-flagged MV Beluga Nomination was captured by pirates 100 km off Seychelles. According to Ukrainian foreign ministry, the crew consists of 12 men – citizens of Ukraine, Russia, Philippines, and Poland. One of the two Russians is resident of St. Petersburg; the second one is from Kaliningrad.

Nikolai Tsukanov previously addressed to Russian foreign ministry with request to take this matter under control and inquire into the fate of the captured crewmen.