Arctic Sea: Russian investigators still aboard

The captain and three crew members were still on board the MV Arctic Sea 30 October, along with Russian investigators. The ship berthed, 14 nautical miles east of Marsaxlokk, Valetta, Malta. The ship berthed early yesterday morning and not as expected last night. The ship had some steering gear problems which resulted in a slight delay in towing. “As we did not want the towing to take place in pitch darkness, we decided to wait an extra day,” said John Gatt, chairman of the National Maritime Security Committee.

The MV Arctic Sea is seen berthed in Senglea

$3.5 million ransom for Malta-flagged Ariana

"We are just waiting for the money," said pirate Hassan of Haradheere. MV Ariana, IMO number :8014150, was seized on May 2 north of Madagascar en route to the Middle East from Brazil with 24 Ukrainian crew aboard. All Oceans shipping in Greece is the beneficial owner.

Arctic Sea: Russian naval personnel disembarked

The Arctic Sea entered the port of Valletta the evening of 29 October and has been allocated a berth at Boiler Wharf. The ship was delivered back to its owners outside Maltese territorial waters in the afternoon.

The ship arrived, 28 October at 0700 hours, outside territorial waters under the tow of a Russian naval tug. The ship was handed over 29 October at 1330 hours by the Russian authorities to the owner. Soon after the tow was transferred from the Russian naval tug to the commercial tug boat Mari, operated by Tug Malta, and the Russian naval personnel disembarked from the ship.

Despite repeated promises to take it into port, the Russian Navy had held the Arctic Sea in international waters since seizing it from suspected pirates on August 17 off Cape Verde near West Africa, 2,500 miles (4,000km) off course.

The ship had been under guard by two Russian warships since then. The captain and three crew members, who are all Russian, had been on board throughout the voyage. It is unclear whether they will be free to return home to the Russian port of Archangel or be taken to Moscow for questioning.

The Moscow Basmanny District Court has extended the arrest of the suspected assailants of the Maltese-flagged Arctic Sea until 18 February at the request of the Russian Prosecutor General Office’s Investigation Committee. “The judge extended custody of Andrei Lunev and Vitaly Lepin for three months and 29 days, until 18 February,” said Moscow City Court press secretary Anna Usachyova on16 October. A similar decision was made for another six suspects earlier.

Arctic Sea: crew fought Estonian boarders?

Malta's Civil Protection Department personnel boarded the Maltese-flagged vessel 14 nautical miles off Malta on October 28. Members of the crew had resisted the hijackers [sic] and were injured. In fact, one had his teeth broken in a fight, according to accounts given to people who boarded the Arctic Sea.

The crew members said they were locked in their cabins until they were freed by the Russian navy in Cape Verde. The hijackers apparently also destroyed the long distance communication equipment and took the ship’s black box.

Earlier it was reported the captain of the Arctic Sea freighter contacted the ship’s operating company September 17 for the first time since the ship mysteriously disappeared in July.

The captain made a brief call to Solchart Arkhangelsk Ltd.’s office on his cell phone, a company spokesman said.

“He said the rest of the crew on the ship is all fine,” the spokesman told Interfax.


Earlier reports stated that sailors were able to communicate with the relatives by mobile phones – each talk 1-2 minutes, SMS-messages. But , Russian authorities, just took from sailors their sim-cards and cutted them off any communication.

“The fact that the military are on board plays no role in this case," Viktor Matveev, the director of Solchart Management which owns the Arctic Sea, told Russian daily Komsomolskaya Pravda on September 22. On September 24, Dmitri Bartenev , a rhib pilgrim picked up by the Arctic Sea on 24 July said that on 17 August, the Russian naval frigate, the Ladny, came alongside. The Arctic Sea's crew had spotted the heavily armed vessel two days previously and the crew broke out the vodka again. "We spent the last two nights on board getting drunk with the crew." On September 24, the remaining crew aboard (master, chief and 2 engineers) were reported "on the verge of a breakdown."

Arctic Sea: escorted by AFM P-61 off Malta

The Arctic Sea is currently just off Malta's territorial waters escorted by a Maltese patrol boat, It is to be inspected by the Maltese authorities before being allowed into Malta.

The handover to its Finnish [sic] owners is expected to take place before the ship enters Grand Harbour, possibly tomorrow.

Arctic Sea: Investigators and 11 Navy crew aboard

At the moment [26 October] there are four crew members on board The Arctic Sea with investigators and eleven sailors from the Russian Guided Missile warship "Ladny" - Krivak I Class Frigate. The vessel was flying the Maltese flag and had 15 Russian crew members on board when it departed from the Finnish port of Jacobstad on the 22nd of July.