A ransom demand has been made of the owners of the missing cargo ship which passed through the English Channel after being hijacked by pirates.
The whereabouts of Arctic Sea, carrying £1 million worth of timber and a 15-strong Russian crew, continues to remain a mystery.
It had been thought the ship was spotted off the coast of the Cape Verde islands yesterday, more than two weeks after it disappeared.
But reports from Russia claimed officials were unable to confirm whether the sighting was the missing ship.
The Russian maritime website, Sovfrakht, also reported the ship's tracking system was broadcasting signals from the Bay of Biscay at 8.30am today.
It is understood a ransom demand has been made of Solhart Management in Finland, which owns the Arctic Sea.
Finnish, Swedish and Maltese authorities have confirmed they are investigating offences of aggravated extortion and alleged hijacking in relation to the Maltese-flagged vessel.
A statement from the Finnish Police said: “The Finnish, Swedish and Maltese authorities have conducted investigations in close co-operation into the alleged offences relating to the cargo vessel Arctic Sea.
“The investigated offences are aggravated extortion and alleged hijacking but taking into consideration the general characteristics of the aggravated extortion and the related significant threats to life and health, any public communication on the case has not been possible.”
Yesterday French officials reported the Arctic Sea had been seen in the North Atlantic, some 520 miles from the islands, off the coast of Africa.
According to the Itar-Tass news agency in Russia Alexander Karpushin, the country's ambassador in Cape Verde, had been unable to clarify the situation.
He told the Vesti news channel: “I met with the country’s authorities, in particular with the chief of the general staff of Cape Verde’s armed forces, who did not confirm the information that the ship had been detected.”
Russian ports remain on alert to contact authorities if the ship docks for supplies or fuel. President Dmitry Medvedev has ordered all Russian navy ships in the Atlantic to search for the missing vessel.
On July 28 the ship made radio contact with the Dover Coastguard as it was about to enter the Strait of Dover from the North Sea, but Interpol later informed the authorities the ship had been hijacked several days earlier in the Baltic Sea.
The last official recorded positioning of the 4,000-tonne vessel was on July 30, off the coast of Brest, northern France. It was meant to arrive in Bejaia in northern Algeria on August 4.
It has been reported that up to 10 armed men boarded the Arctic Sea on July 24, before leaving on a high-speed inflatable boat having damaged communications equipment.
Source:The times
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