Missing cargo ship: crew reported second attack

European Commission maritime officials told The Daily Telegraph that following its first attack in Swedish waters, a second set of radio messages was received from the Maltese-flagged merchant ship after the vessel had passed through the English Channel at the end of last month.

"Radio calls were apparently received from the ship which had supposedly been under attack twice, the first time off the Swedish coast and then off the Portuguese coast," said a Commission transport official.

"The Commission has no further comment to add at this stage, in order not to hinder the ongoing law enforcement activities."

Brussels officials have remained "fully aware of what seems to be the disappearance of a ship flying the flag of a member State of the European Union" but are sceptical of reports of piracy, while refusing to give further details.

"From information currently available it would seem that these acts, such as they have been reported, have nothing in common with ’traditional’ acts of piracy or armed robbery at sea," said the official.

...

The second message was received after the Arctic Sea was last tracked in the Bay of Biscay on July 30 now placing the last contact at the beginning of August and as the ship changed course from its Algeria destination to a new western Atlantic bearing.

Solchart, the operator of the merchant vessel, has blamed piracy for the ship’s disappearance.

"My view is that it is most likely that the vessel has been hijacked," said Viktor Matveyev, director of the Finnish company.

Russian space satellites, warships and nuclear submarines have been scrambled in a full scale pirate hunt for the ship amid fears that vessel could be carrying a dangerous "secret cargo".

Before collecting a cargo of sawn timber from the Finnish port of Pietarsaari on July 23, the Arctic Sea had been repaired over a two week period at the Pregol shipyard in Kaliningrad, a Russian enclave notorious for smuggling and lawlessness.

...

"I am sure it was not drugs or some other illegal or just criminal cargo. I think that something much more expensive or dangerous. It looks like some third party did not want this trans-shipment to be fulfilled so they made this highly sophisticated and complicated operation."

According to Russia’s Itar-Tass news agency, Interpol has reported the Arctic Sea as a hijacked vessel to the world’s police forces, making the incident the first case of piracy in European waters in modern times.

...