Friday, 22 February 2008

Japan coast guards find empty lifeboat from missing cargo ship

indianmuslims.info
Thu, 02/21/2008

By RIA Novosti

Moscow : Japan's Coast Guard Service has discovered an empty lifeboat from a cargo ship that went missing with its Russian crew last month, Russia's Ministry of Transportation said on Thursday.

The Kapitan Uskov dry cargo ship with 17 Russian crew members on board was declared missing in the East China Sea on January 24, when it was due to arrive in Hong Kong with freight of over 4,500 metric tons of rolled metal.

The Cambodian-registered vessel, which left Russia's Far East port of Nakhodka on January 15, last had radio contact on January 20.

Pyotr Osichansky, the head of the Far East Association of Sea Captains, said earlier that, "Rolled metal on board the ship could have slid during a storm and sunk the ship. In that event, the cargo ship could have sunk quickly, leaving no traces on the surface."

The area is not notorious for pirate attacks but the investigation does not rule out a possible attack.

The boat, with cargo capacity of 5,200 metric tons, was built in Japan in 1982. It flew a Soviet flag and was later sold to a private shipping company and registered in Cambodia.

Ships are often registered in a foreign country to cut operating costs and avoid government regulations.

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