Russia: Owner of Missing Cargo Ship with Gold Ore Arrested

The CEO of the Nikolayevsk-on-Amur Sea Port, the company that owns the bulk carrier that went missing last week carrying 700-750 tons of gold ore, has been detained according to ITAR-TASS.

The bulk carrier Amurskaya, with nine crew members, went missing on October 28 in the Sea of Okhotsk during a storm while transporting gold that belongs to a Russian gold miner Polymetal International Plc.

Apparently the missing vessel started the journey from the port of Kiran without authorization and overloaded with cargo that it is not designed to carry. The vessel’s carrying capacity is 611 tons. The value of the lost gold was estimated at an $800,000, Nikolay Sosnovskiy, an analyst at VTB Capital, told Bloomberg.

Therefore, the owner was arrested for violation of the navigation safety rules and the steering of vessels that entailed the death of two and more people through negligence and he will face charges soon.

[mappress]

World Maritime News Staff, November 7, 2012