Shipping boat sinks in Baltic Sea

Dec 03, 2008
TBT staff in cooperation with BNS

Rescue crews have yet to find the ships missing crew.

RIGA- Rescuers have yet to finding the missing crew members of the Latvian fishing boat that sank in the Baltic Sea off Latvia's southwestern port of Liepaja during the night of Dec. 2, however rescue works will be continued.

National Armed Forces (NAF) spokesman Normunds Stafeckis told BNS that the Air Force helicopter has ceased rescue operation returned to Lielvarde.

State Border Guard helicopter will continue rescue operation from air on the morning of Dec. 4.

Border Guard Ventspils department head Aleksandrs Volkovs told BNS that the helicopter is on the way from Riga to Ventspils and then it will head to the place of the accident. Two border guard vessels will also be involved in the operation if needed.

The rescue operation in the sea is taken over by Naval Force vessel Varonis, replacing another ship Virsaitis.

According to the National Armed Forces (NAF), rescue works were resumed in cooperation with the Naval Forces and helicopters, but were unsuccessful. The only finding on Dec. 2 was belongings of the Beverina ship washed ashore and the empty raft that the Naval Force ship had thrown out to save the crew.

At present there is no clear information about evacuation of the crew. The Naval Force reported that they repeatedly offered evacuation of the crew, but the crew hesitated and the ship sank in a couple of minutes.

The Maritime Administration investigators have launched a probe on the accident, while the State Police has launched a criminal procedure.

Beverina had seen troubles already earlier. In September 2001 a fire broke out on the vessel while it was at port.

The State Environment Service naval and territorial waters department deputy director, Felikss Klagiss, told BNS that Beverina has been caught poaching four times in the Latvian waters and once in the Polish waters this year.

The illegal loot included a few hundred kilograms to four tons of cod. The environment authority has imposed fines on the ship, but they have not been paid yet.

Beverina has been "formally" engaged in fishing in the past six months, but in fact had been looking for scrap metal in the sea.

The Latvian fishing boat sank in the Baltic Sea off Latvia's southwestern port of Liepaja Tuesday night, and so far efforts to find and rescue the ship's crew have been unsuccessful. Information about the number of people on board the Beverina has been conflicting -- the naval forces reported that the crew consisted of six fishermen.

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