Ship Mona Lisa's costly evacuation

RIGA- The freeing of the stranded ship Mona Lisa and evacuation of passengers costLatvia 135,000lats (EUR 192,000).

Ieva Aile, head of the governmental press service, told the Baltic News Service that Latvianlawyers are still negotiating with the insurer two financial positions thatwill decide whether value added tax is included in the total sum to be paid to Latvia.

The estimate of the total cost for the rescue operation carried out byLatvian military services was sent to the insurer, who sent Latviaa 200,000 euros letter of indemnity.

On May 7, Latvian rescue services managed to free the cruise ship that had becomestuck off Latvia's western coast for more than three days before the ship wenton to the port of Ventspils.

The Mona Lisa, a cruise ship with 984 people on board, was stranded in theIrbe Straits, 18 kilometers off Latvia'scoast, on May 4. Initial attempts to free thegiant ship were unsuccessful, andmore than 24 hours after the accident experts decided to evacuate thepassengers who were then brought in by special train to Riga.