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The Arctic Sea cargo ship - Source: ONE News -
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The operator of a 4,000-tonne merchant cargo ship that has disappeared in the Atlantic Ocean believes the vessel has been hijacked.
Russian warships have joined the hunt for the Arctic Sea, a bulk carrier with a 15-strong Russian crew that went missing shortly after passing through the Dover Strait between France and Britain late last month.
The Maltese-registered, Finnish-chartered vessel was sailing from Finland to the Algerian port of Bejaia, where it was due to have docked on August 4 with a $US1.3-million load of timber.
"My view is that it is most likely that the vessel has been hijacked," says Viktor Matveyev, director of the Finnish company, Solchart, which operates the vessel.
Britain's Maritime and Coastguard Agency says the Arctic Sea last made radio contact on July 28 as it entered the Dover Strait.
Shortly afterwards its transponder, which transmits an electronic location signal, was switched off.
The vessel's movements were last recorded on the AisLive ship tracking system off the coast of northern France on July 30, although it has also been spotted off Portugal.
The Malta Maritime Authority received reports it was boarded by men posing as police in Swedish waters on July 24.
The vessel was boarded by "eight to twelve persons allegedly masked and wearing uniforms bearing the word 'police' and armed with guns and pistols," the Maltese authority says.
"During their stay on board, members of the crew were allegedly assaulted, tied, gagged and blindfolded and some were seriously injured," it says, adding the crew were questioned about drug trafficking by those posing as police.
Swedish authorities have told Maltese officials that no Swedish law enforcement agencies were involved.
Concerned for the crew, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev
ordered Russian naval ships operating in the Atlantic to join the
hunt for the ship.
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