Still no sign of Arctic Sea in Algerian port

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There was still no sign of the missing cargo vessel M/S Arctic Sea at its intended destination in Algeria on Tuesday evening, although details of the ship did appear in the evening on the Port of Bejaïa's online listing of vessels expected to dock that day.
      A duty officer in the port was unable to tell Helsingin Sanomat why the ship's details were posted on the list.
      "We do not know anything about that vessel", was the assurance from the official.
     
The Arctic Sea mysteriously vanished from all vessel tracking systems in late July, some days after allegedly being the victim of a hijacking attempt off the Swedish coast.
      The hijackers, apparently posing as police officers, held the Russian crew hostage for 12 hours, but nothing was taken.
      The 4,000-ton Maltese-registered vessel is carrying a cargo of lumber belonging to Stora Enso.
     
The bizarre story has been somewhat slow to gain international attention, but now the Russian authorities have also taken a serious interest in the whereabouts of the ship and its crew, and an international hunt is on.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Where are you, Arctic Sea? (11.8.2009)
  Stora Enso has EUR 1.3 million worth of timber in missing ship Arctic Sea (10.8.2009)

Links:
  BBC: Hunt on for "hijacked cargo ship"

Helsingin Sanomat