Russia finds missing cargo ship

A cargo ship whose mysterious disappearance sparked a massive naval hunt has been found and its crew transferred to a Russian military vessel, Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said yesterday.

The Arctic Sea was located around 2100 GMT on Sunday about 483 kilometres from the Cape Verde archipelago in the Atlantic, Serdyukov said, after intensive search efforts by Russian and Nato ships in the past 10 days.

"The crew has been transferred aboard our anti-submarine ship," Mr Serdyukov told President Dmitry Medvedev in a meeting that was broadcast on Russian state TV.

He said all members of the Russian crew were "alive, healthy and are not under armed guard."

Mr Serdyukov made no mention, however, of the current whereabouts of the ship itself and his announcement did little to clear up the mystery over what happened in recent weeks to the Russian cargo ship which was feared to have been hijacked.

"Debriefing is under way to clarify all aspects of the disappearance and loss of signal from this vessel," Mr Serdyukov said.

Mr Medvedev called for a full investigation of the Arctic Sea mystery and vowed that "all interested parties" would be informed on the results.

The crew of the Arctic Sea was taken aboard the Russian submarine hunter Ladny, Mr Serdyukov said. He offered no immediate further details on the operation that resulted in the crew being taken aboard the Russian warship.

The 3,988-tonne Russian-owned cargo vessel set sail from Finland on July 23 on its way to Algeria with a crew of 15 and a cargo of sawn timber estimated to be worth €1.16 million.

All contact with the ship, however, was lost shortly after amid reports of multiple pirate hijackings, a zig-zagging itinerary and speculation that the vessel was carrying a secret, illicit cargo.

Finnish authorities on Sunday dismissed talk that the Arctic Sea was bearing a cargo of nuclear material.

Jukka Laaksonen, head of the Finnish Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority, said firefighters conducted radiation tests on the ship at a port in Finland before it began its voyage.

Reports surfaced last week that the ship had been sighted off Cape Verde and that a Portuguese aircraft had overflown the vessel.

But Portuguese did not confirm the sighting and the Russian ambassador to Cape Verde said he had not been officially informed of the ship's whereabouts.

The Malta Maritime Authority yesterday issued a statement confirming that the MV Arctic Sea is under the control of the Russian military forces.

The Maritime Security Committee (Malta) is still monitoring the unfolding of events through diplomatic, security service, flag administration, military and police channels as it has been doing on a daily basis in collaboration with other jurisdictions having an interest in the case, MMA said.