Police detain captain of ship suspected of oil leak in Naantali
No official confirmation of nationality
Finnish police on Monday detained the captain of a ship believed to have spilled oil in the sea between Naantali and the Åland Islands.
Police would not give any details on the nationality of the ship or its captain, pending the completion of questioning.
Kaarle Lönnroth of the economic crimes unit of the police of Finland Proper also did not want to disclose the position of the ship when the arrest took place, or where it is now.
Police would not even say if a Finnish or a foreign vessel was involved.
“I do not want to say it yet, while the preliminary investigation is in its early stages. We have one ship that is clearly under suspicion, but we want to rule out the possibility that there may have been two spills”, Lönnroth said.
He also would not speculate on how much oil was spilled. However, the amount is not believed to be very large.
The Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet reported on Tuesday that the ship suspected of having leaked the oil was Swedish.
Police would not comment on the Swedish report on Tuesday. Kaarle Lönnroth told Helsingin Sanomat that interrogations of the suspect are continuing. He would not say what language was being used in the questioning.
The slicks of oil formed a contiguous trail along the shipping lane from Naantali to the Åland Islands.
The largest amounts of oil were seen in Naantali Harbour and Airisto. Aerial observation on Monday revealed that it had not yet drifted to the shores of nearby islands.
The Finnish Environment Institute said that no attempts would be made to remove the oil from the sea. The oil in question is light fuel oil, which cannot be collected using available oil removal systems.
Light fuel oil also evaporates fairly quickly, especially if the sun is shining. The current ice conditions also make it impossible to collect the oil from the sea.
Oil barriers were nevertheless set up in Naantali Harbour, in an area where the smell of oil was powerful.
Light fuel oil is used as fuel in most ships sailing in the Baltic Sea, whereas larger ocean vessels use heavy fuel oil.
Helsingin Sanomat
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| 31.3.2009 - TODAY |
 Police detain captain of ship suspected of oil leak in Naantali |
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