In developing news, a 30-year -old British man and a 56-year-old Croatian are currently in custody in Sweden after their vessel, a British-registered cargo ship, the Scot Carrier, appeared to have ‘run over’ a cargo vessel under the Danish flag, the Karin Høj. One person was found dead in the hull of the stricken vessel and another lost at sea after a long search, despite cries being heard from the water by rescuers.
This happened circa 3:30 in the early hours of Monday, as the two vessels traversed the 25-mile gap between Southern Sweden, near Ystad, and Bornholm Island. The Scot Carrier was behind the Karin Høj proceeding at 12kn, having loaded with timber in North Latvia, and the Karin Høj, with no load, at 6kn travelling towards Nykobing in South Denmark from Södertalje, near Stockholm.
The marine convention is that the ship overtaking has ‘right of way’ so to speak, with the other needing to give way. However, in this case, the tracking picked up by the Swedish Coast Guard seems to show the two boats running parallel before the Scot Carrier turns a sharp right, virtually directly abeam of Karin Høj, causing her to capsize and turn upside down, with one or two crew thrown into the icy Baltic waters (temperature circa 4°C). It then seemed to turn sharply again, before moving off.
A nearby vessel overheard the Swedish Coast Guard being informed by the Scot Carrier that they thought they might have hit something but weren’t sure, whereupon they were ordered to return to assist in the rescue, which the Scot Carrier proceeded to do. It is not clear how the Coast Guard was alerted of the incident. It appears Scot Carrier had proceeded forward for half an hour and almost an hour had passed by the time it returned.
The two men in custody were found to have an over-the-limit amount of alcohol in their blood stream. Both have been detained, suspected of breaking a drinking at sea law – applicable to crews on ships – gross negligence, and the 30-year-old British man alone, charged with causing death by involuntary manslaughter. This seems to suggest the British man was the person in charge on that watch. The ship is currently in the hands of the Swedish authorities, with none of those on board currently allowed to leave. A decision will be made ‘by noon’ as to whether the two aforementioned men will be formally charged. In addition, whether it is Swedish or Danish jurisdiction. As it seems to be outwith the 12-mile coastal waters limit of Sweden - more like 20 miles out and near the Danish Bornholm Island, it could be passed over to the Danes, as the victims are Danish nationals.
A couple of marine experts in Sweden and Finland have expressed the view that the Scot Carrier crew must have been drunk or asleep. More concerning is one report using the term that the Karin Høj looked like it had been ‘chased’, although that might be a foible of language usage in translation. The bow of the Scot Carrier shows a dent across the front, likely where it rammed into the Karin Høj at a near 90° angle and it then, curiously, zig-zagged back the other direction, before proceeding ahead without stopping. This indicates it knew it had hit something and raises the suspicion hinted at that it might even have been a deliberate act of folly, although the newspapers do not actually spell this out.
Hesari
The Karin Høj is half the size of the Scot Carrier and built in 1977, whereas the latter was built 2018. Thus, one would have thought the much larger, more modern, ship would have had the prerequisite GPS, radar, navigation tools and transponders. The fact it suddenly turned abeam of Karin Høj suggest either it was taking late action to avoid her and miscalculated or for some other unknown reason owing to losing control.
Graphics credit: Helsingin Sanomat
This happened circa 3:30 in the early hours of Monday, as the two vessels traversed the 25-mile gap between Southern Sweden, near Ystad, and Bornholm Island. The Scot Carrier was behind the Karin Høj proceeding at 12kn, having loaded with timber in North Latvia, and the Karin Høj, with no load, at 6kn travelling towards Nykobing in South Denmark from Södertalje, near Stockholm.
The marine convention is that the ship overtaking has ‘right of way’ so to speak, with the other needing to give way. However, in this case, the tracking picked up by the Swedish Coast Guard seems to show the two boats running parallel before the Scot Carrier turns a sharp right, virtually directly abeam of Karin Høj, causing her to capsize and turn upside down, with one or two crew thrown into the icy Baltic waters (temperature circa 4°C). It then seemed to turn sharply again, before moving off.
A nearby vessel overheard the Swedish Coast Guard being informed by the Scot Carrier that they thought they might have hit something but weren’t sure, whereupon they were ordered to return to assist in the rescue, which the Scot Carrier proceeded to do. It is not clear how the Coast Guard was alerted of the incident. It appears Scot Carrier had proceeded forward for half an hour and almost an hour had passed by the time it returned.
The two men in custody were found to have an over-the-limit amount of alcohol in their blood stream. Both have been detained, suspected of breaking a drinking at sea law – applicable to crews on ships – gross negligence, and the 30-year-old British man alone, charged with causing death by involuntary manslaughter. This seems to suggest the British man was the person in charge on that watch. The ship is currently in the hands of the Swedish authorities, with none of those on board currently allowed to leave. A decision will be made ‘by noon’ as to whether the two aforementioned men will be formally charged. In addition, whether it is Swedish or Danish jurisdiction. As it seems to be outwith the 12-mile coastal waters limit of Sweden - more like 20 miles out and near the Danish Bornholm Island, it could be passed over to the Danes, as the victims are Danish nationals.
A couple of marine experts in Sweden and Finland have expressed the view that the Scot Carrier crew must have been drunk or asleep. More concerning is one report using the term that the Karin Høj looked like it had been ‘chased’, although that might be a foible of language usage in translation. The bow of the Scot Carrier shows a dent across the front, likely where it rammed into the Karin Høj at a near 90° angle and it then, curiously, zig-zagged back the other direction, before proceeding ahead without stopping. This indicates it knew it had hit something and raises the suspicion hinted at that it might even have been a deliberate act of folly, although the newspapers do not actually spell this out.
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A BRITISH cargo ship had sailed back and forth in the Baltic Sea on Monday night after colliding with a Danish cargo ship. Swedish researchers and experts have come to such a preliminary understanding of what happened at night. “Going sounds like a wild west,” Olle Rutgersson , a professor in the Department of Maritime and Marine Engineering at Chalmers University of Technology, tells the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet . ON MONDAY , however, it was still unclear why Scot Carrier would have run into Karin Høj at all. Nilsson told Swedish media on Monday that Scot Carrier was moving hard and continued straight ahead after the collision. <snip> Prosecutor Tomas Olvmyr tells Swedish television SVT that he believes the cargo ships were running side by side when the British suddenly turned to the Danish side. The same can be seen from real-time Marine Traffic data. According to the location data, the cargo ships would have first traveled in parallel towards their destinations until they collided. After the collision, the British ship would have turned sharply to the left, then to the right, and then continued its journey further away from the scene of the accident. <snip> “The operation doesn’t sound normal at all,” Professor Rutgersson tells Aftonbladet. According to him, collisions are also rare in the narrowly described Baltic Sea. Cargo ships also have equipment to detect other ships to prevent collisions. “Ships should see each other as small dots. Surveillance must have been miserable if the crews did not notice each other. This is not normal at all. Either the crew of the [British ship] was asleep or drunk, or both, ”says Rutgersson. |
The Karin Høj is half the size of the Scot Carrier and built in 1977, whereas the latter was built 2018. Thus, one would have thought the much larger, more modern, ship would have had the prerequisite GPS, radar, navigation tools and transponders. The fact it suddenly turned abeam of Karin Høj suggest either it was taking late action to avoid her and miscalculated or for some other unknown reason owing to losing control.
Graphics credit: Helsingin Sanomat
via International Skeptics Forum https://ift.tt/3DPG365
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