Operator: Missing ship likely hijacked

MOSCOW. August 14. KAZINFORM. The operator of a merchant cargo ship that has disappeared in the Atlantic Ocean said on Thursday it believed the vessel has been hijacked; Kazinform refers to China Daily.

The Maltese-registered, Finnish-chartered vessel disappeared while sailing from Finland to the Algerian port of Bejaia, where it was due to have docked on August 4 with a $1.3-million load of timber.

On Wednesday Russian warships were ordered to join the hunt for the Arctic Sea, a 4,000-tonne bulk carrier with a 15-strong Russian crew that went missing shortly after passing through the Dover Strait between France and Britain late last month.

The vessel's movements were last recorded on the AisLive ship tracking system off the coast of northern France on July 30, although it has also been spotted off Portugal.

The Malta Maritime Authority said it received reports it was boarded by men posing as police in Swedish waters on July 24.

The vessel was boarded by "eight to twelve persons allegedly masked and wearing uniforms bearing the word 'police' and armed with guns and pistols," the Maltese authority said on Wednesday; Kazinform cites China Daily. See www.chinadaily.com.cn for full version.