14.09.2009
Source:
The exact location of Arctic Sea cargo vessel remained off the harbor of Gran Canaria Island in Atlantic Ocean last week is unknown, said representative of Spanish Commercial Fleet General Department to RIA Novosti reporter in phone talk on Friday.
"According to information available on Saturday, the cargo ship with Russian towboat was 14 miles off
Puerto de la Cruz port of Las Palmas. Since the vessel's self-identification system is disabled, it is impossible to locate the ship by radars", the source said.
As he said, to locate the cargo vessel, it is necessary to send coastguard boat or helicopter to the zone.
Port authorities are anxious about zero information of the ship; it is incomprehensible why it remains in neutral waters for so many days.
"If the vessel has critical defects and is not capable to move by itself, it may threaten other ships moving in the region and ecology of our waters", the source explained.
Spanish Navy representative added that
Arctic Sea had not filed any application for entry and mooring at Las Palmas port yet.
The cargo ship
Arctic Sea with 15-men Russian crew aboard which sailed from Finland to Algeria was found near Cabo Verde on August, 16 after its mysterious disappearance late July. According to investigation' data, the ship
Arctic Sea was hijacked by 8 citizens of Estonia, Latvia and Russia. Bloodless hostage extraction operation was performed by the Black Sea Fleet mariners.
Presently, there are captain, 3 crew members and a group of Russian investigators aboard the ship. The rest 11 sailors were transferred home by Russian Air Force aircrafts and are currently in Arkhangelsk.
Arctic Sea is escorted by RNS
Ladny.
There were suggestions in media that the cargo ship might carry not only wood. In particular, there were versions of drugs and even
S-300 missiles aboard.
As it was said in
Investigative Committee at Prosecution office of the RF (ICP), investigative group had inspected
Arctic Sea and found no unauthorized cargo except declared wood and lumber.
Five Maltese investigators representing the ship's flag-state are presently in Las Palmas and will arrive aboard
Arctic Sea to participate the investigation directly, reported Andrei Nesterenko, Russian MFA official representative at press conference on Sept, 9.
ICP said on Sept, 10 that the cargo ship
Arctic Sea is to be handed over to Malta representatives soon, but Russian investigators need some days more to finish the works aboard.
According to press-release published on
Malta Maritime Authority official website on Sept, 11, the group of Maltese police representatives and maritime authorities arrived aboard the vessel for fact-finding of the case.
"Maltese team comprising representatives of police and
Malta Maritime Authority got aboard on Sept, 10, 2009. The representatives of
Malta Maritime Authority carry out an investigation concerning possible violation of maritime safety rules (navigation norms) by the vessel in parallel with the investigation of potential violation of other legislative acts", the press-release says.
The fact of current presence of Maltese officials aboard the
Arctic Sea has not been confirmed yet.
