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Azerbaijan detains Russian ship in the Caspian Sea

15 March 2014 11:54 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Shamil Alibeyli – APA. "Vatan-1" ship sailing under the Russian flag crashed in the Azerbaijan section of the Caspian Sea.

APA reports quoting the Russian media that there are Russian and Ukrainian citizens on board the ship of “VTS-TRans” company produced in 1972.

Engine of the ship carrying cement from Russia to Azerbaijan was reportedly damaged and it was forced to stop near the coast of Baku.

The crew of the ship said that they didn’t have spare parts to repair the engine, they ran out of food and fuel. The owner of the ship owes a large amount of money to the port. The crew members said that they couldn’t enter the harbor for three days, no one considered their appeals and their wages have not been paid for more than 3 months.

Emergency-rescue vessel of Azerbaijani State Maritime Administration was sent to help them. The ship is expected to be sent to Baku Sea port.

Governor of Astrakhan province Alexander Jilkin said talks are being held with the owner of the ship. "We are holding talks with the owner of the ship. Azerbaijan is also offering necessary assistance," he said. Captain of the ship is the citizen of Russia Timur Kamalov.

Alexei Bakulin, Yelena Kosireva, Asadulla Asadullayev, who are on board the ship, are the citizens of Russia, Maksim Ponomarchuk, Pavel Savchenko, Dmitry Bush, Alexei Vekov, Dmitry Knyazev and Oleg Komisarchuk are the citizens of Ukraine.

Deputy chief of Azerbaijan State Maritime Administration Ehtiram Rahimov told APA that the Russian freight ship was detained in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea over technical failure and debt matters.

"The ship is owned by a private Russian company and owes to the Azerbaijani port. The company owes to the Ukrainian citizens, who are working with them. They have not been paid for months. Ukraine's embassy in Azerbaijan has also appealed to us in connection with it. Moreover, there were technical failure, this is one of the causes why the ship was detained. We are giving them technical aid. After the problems are solved, the ship and the crew will be released," he said.