Russians Track Stora Enso Mystery Ship
The Arctic Sea docked at Lovisa, Finland in April 2008.
Image: Henrik Hilli
Russian authorities are trying to track down a cargo ship carrying timber for the Finnish-Swedish forest products company Stora Enso that has disappeared 12 days ago en route from Finland to Algeria.
The Arctic Sea has a Russian crew of 13. It was boarded on July 24 off the Swedish coast and searched by attackers posing as policemen searching for drugs. They beat and tied up the crew for 12 hours, stole their mobile phones and damaged the vessel's radio equipment before leaving. The incident took place between the islands of Gotland and Öland after the ship left the Finnish west-coast port of Pietarsaari.
Russia's Navy and Federal Security Service FSB are tracing the vessel's movements since it mysteriously vanished from radar four days after the still-unexplained boarding incident. At that point it was in the English Channel, and was last seen near Portugal.
The Maltese-flagged bulk carrier, which is apparently Latvian-owned, was to have arrived at the Algerian port of Bejaia on Wednesday, but failed to turn up.
Stora Enso communications director Lauri Peltola told YLE on Sunday that Stora Enso's freight on the ship is worth about 300,000 euros.
"We have about 2,000 cubic meters of timber on board," he said. "The load is insured, but of course we are interested in finding out where the vessel is."
YLE, Reuters