Chinese Ship Sinks After Russian Shots; Crew Missing

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Chinese Ship Sinks After Russian Shots; Crew Missing

By Torrey Clark and Lee Spears

Feb. 19 (Bloomberg) -- A Chinese cargo ship sank after Russian patrols

opened fire to stop the boat from reaching international waters and
escaping seizure after its rice shipment was rejected by the buyer. Eight
sailors were missing.

Maritime guards fired from mounted guns at the New Star after the captain
ignored verbal commands and warning shots while leaving the port of
Nakhodka last week, Russian Federal Security Service spokeswoman
Natalya Rondaleva said on state television.

The boat then fled to international waters and sank, forcing all 16
crewmembers to jump ship, said Captain Veniamin Ivanichev of the Marine
Rescue Center in Vladivostok. The cause of the sinking isn’t clear because
the incident occurred during a storm, he said. Half of the sailors were
returned to Nakhodka on Feb. 15 and the search continues for the other
half.

China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs today said it asked Russia to investigate
the “mishap” and identify the cause as soon as possible. Three Chinese
sailors have been rescued and seven are missing, ministry spokeswoman
Jiang Yu told reporters in Beijing. The other six crewmembers are
Indonesian, said Natalia Gelashvili, a spokeswoman for the Far East
Transport Prosecutors office in Nakhodka.

The New Star fled Nakhodka on Feb. 12 after the shipment of rice it
unloaded was rejected by the buyer, who then asked a court to seize
the ship while suing for damages, Gelashvili said.

Jiang declined to comment on reports that the New Star sank as a result of
Russian fire. The ship was registered in Sierra Leone and its beneficial
owner was the Chinese government, according to Bloomberg data.

To contact the reporterS on this story: Torrey Clark in Moscow at
tclark8@bloomberg.net; Lee Spears in Beijing at lspears2@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: February 19, 2009 08:09 EST

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Russia told to probe ship sinking

The New Star sank shortly after turning back to port in heavy seas China has called on Russia to carry out a full investigation after a shooting incident on Sunday involving a Chinese-owned vessel off the port of Nakhodka. Eight sailors went missing after Russian border guards opened fire. Russian says the freighter, which later sank, was being investigated for possible links to smuggling and had set sail from Nakhodka without permission. It is still unclear what caused it to sink, although it is said to have tried to turn back to port in heavy seas. On Wednesday, a Russian FSB border control department spokesman admitted one of its ships had fired more than 500 rounds at the fleeing New Star during what was initially presented as a rescue. Spoiled rice At a news conference in Beijing on Thursday, Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said three Chinese crew members had been rescued after the incident and that seven others were still missing in the Sea of Japan. [The New Star's captain] did not take all necessary measures to fight for the survivability of his ship Russian border control department The remaining six members of the New Star's crew were Indonesian, Russian officials said. One of them is reported to be missing. Ms Jiang said China had called on Russia to "to spare no effort to help search for the missing crew members and quickly find out the causes of the incident". She declined to comment further on the shooting, although said the freighter had "encountered danger". The vessel's owner, Hong Kong-based J-Rui Lucky Shipping, condemned the Russian authorities and called for a joint investigation panel to be set up to find out who should be held responsible. It said the New Star had arrived in Nakhodka at the end of last month to deliver a consignment of rice, but that the purchaser had refused to accept it, saying it was poor quality, and demanded compensation. The company said officials in Nakhodka had dragged their feet giving the vessel clearance to leave, prompting the ship to depart without permission on Sunday. 'Warning shot' The Russian border control department has blamed the captain of the New Star for the deaths of his sailors, saying he was given adequate warning. Strong waves overturned one of liferafts after the crew fled the ship "[He] did not take all necessary measures to fight for the survivability of his ship," it said in a statement, according to the Kommersant newspaper. Nakhodka prosecutor Alexander Selentsov told the Interfax news agency that the captain was called by radio by border guard boats, that light signals were sent, a special flag demanding it stop was raised, and a warning shot was fired. Interfax reported that several hundred shots had then been fired in the direction of the ship from a 30-mm automatic cannon. Afterwards, the ship turned around but started sinking in the heavy seas, it said. The crew then jumped into two liferafts, but strong waves overturned one of them and the border guards were only able to rescue eight men.

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Ship sinks in Russia, 7 missing

Seven Chinese sailors are missing after a Chinese cargo ship sank in Russian waters near Japan on Saturday, the Foreign Ministry said Wednesday.

A Chinese cargo ship is sinking after an accident at sea last Saturday near Russia's far-eastern port of Vladivostok. Three Chinese crew members were rescued and 7 others were missing, according to Chinese Foreign Ministry. [huanqiu.com]

"Three of the 10 Chinese sailors onboard were saved but seven are still missing after the ship sank off the waters of Vladivostok," it said in a statement on its website.

The ministry didn't mention the cause of the incident, saying rescue efforts and an investigation into the incident are ongoing.

But the Global Times, a Chinese language newspaper based in Beijing, said yesterday the ship was fired on by the Russian navy before it sank, citing a Russian newspaper.

New Star, the cargo ship, was sequestered at the Russian port of Nakhodka earlier this month for alleged smuggling. It left the port not far from the Sino-Russian border without permission from Russian authorities last Thursday and was chased by a cruiser, the newspaper said.

Later, the warship shot at least 500 rounds onto the ship and forced it to sail back toward the port in force 6 winds.

However, the Chinese ship started to sink on the way. According to the report, in a period of almost 24 hours, Russian navy officers and soldiers onboard the cruiser watched the sinking boat and did not make any response to the cries for help from the crewmen.

In the end, 16 sailors onboard New Star got on two lifeboats. The Russian sailors managed to save one boat carrying eight people, while the other was engulfed in the waves.

Three of the missing sailors are Chinese while the other five came from Indonesia, the report said.

The coastal coordination and assistance center of Vladivostok announced on Sunday that a Russian coast guard cruiser saved eight foreign sailors trapped by bad weather. It did not mention the alleged fire from the Russian navy.

The Russian News Agency reported the incident yesterday and said the coast guard just found an empty boat in a three-day search. It also cited bad weather as the reason behind the accident.

According the International Maritime Organization, the owner of New Star is a shipping company of Zhejiang, while the operator is a company based in Guangzhou.

Here's the VID

http://video.novostivl.ru/video/view/?id=u97870650ba

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=6be_1234970614

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		Russia
		Russia tries to free cargo ship detained by North Korea
		11:19 | 19/ 02/ 2009

MOSCOW, February 19 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian embassy in North Korea said on Thursday it was attempting to resolve the situation around a Russian ship earlier seized by North Korean authorities.

North Korea detained the Omsky-122 cargo ship, owned by the Amur shipping company, in Cape Musudan in the Sea of Japan late on Tuesday, and the vessel was escorted to the North Korean port of Kimchaek.

"We are making efforts to ensure the release of the Russian ship as soon as possible. The investigation is underway and we expect it to be completed in the near future," the embassy said.

According to the Amur shipping company, the Omsky-122 has a crew of 17 and enough supplies of food and water for 15 days.

Pyongyang reportedly has a missile-testing facility on the shore of Cape Musudan.

According to the Amur shipping company, the Russian vessel complied with all regulations and notified the North Korean coast guard of its location and movements.

Russians ships were also seized by North Korea in 2008 and 2005 in its territorial waters before eventually being released.

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Eight feared dead after Russia sinks Chinese cargo ship

By DPA
Feb 19, 2009, 9:46 GMT

Beijing - Eight crew were feared dead after Russian Coast Guard vessels
fired on a Chinese ship that was fleeing port after a dispute over a rice
cargo, Chinese and Russian sources said Thursday.

China's Foreign Ministry said the cargo ship New Star sank Saturday off
Russia's eastern port of Nakhodka in waters close to Japan.
The Hong Kong-based owner of the ship on Thursday accused Russian
officials of covering up an 'act of murder' by a warship.

'Their account does not mention the fact that their warship fired on our
cargo ship,' the Chinese government website china.org quoted a statement
by the J-Rui Lucky Shipping Company as saying.

'What they are portraying as a rescue was in fact an act of murder,' the
statement said.

J-Rui said it had leased the New Star since 2006 to the Tongyu shipping
company, based in the eastern Chinese province of Zhejiang.

Chinese and Russian media reports said the Russian Coast Guard opened
fire after the ship ignored warnings to return to port.

China's Global Times newspaper said at least one sailor was shot dead
before the ship sank.

Russia's RIA Novosti news agency said eight crew died at sea after the
Sierra Leone-flagged vessel sank during a storm.

The ship had tried to deliver a cargo of rice, but a Russian buyer
refused to accept the rice because of quality concerns, both reports
said.

Tonggyu ordered the captain to flee Russian waters because it feared legal
action, the Russian agency quoted local prosecutors as saying.

The ship then left port without permission and 'crossed the Russian border
illegally,' local police told the agency.

The 16 Indonesian and Chinese crew entered life rafts after the ship began
sinking and eight were rescued by a Russian ship, the report said.

Attempts to save the other eight crew 'failed when they were washed out
to sea and drowned,' it said.

The Global Times said the New Star was sequestered in Nakhodka for
'alleged smuggling,' a charged rejected by J-Rui.

The newspaper said a Russian Coast Guard cruiser fired at least 500 rounds
on the ship and 'forced it to sail back toward the port in force-6 winds.'

The ship began to sink on the way back to port and one of the two
lifeboats was engulfed by high waves, the newspaper said.

It said three of the eight missing crew were Chinese and the rest were
Indonesian.

China's Foreign Ministry gave different numbers for the crew and missing,
saying three of the 10 Chinese crew on board were rescued and seven
were missing.

Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu on Thursday said Chinese officials had
urged Russia to 'spare no effort to help search for the missing crew
members and quickly find out the causes of the incident.'

The J-Rui statement said Russian navy officers 'did not offer any
assistance to the crew of the New Star to board the warship,' while the
Global Times said the Chinese ship did not send an SOS signal to the
Russian Coast Guard.

Russian prosecutors were investigating the conduct of the Coast Guard
officers in the incident, RIA Novosti said.

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North Korea Pressed Over Ship

19 February 2009

Russian diplomats requested an explanation from North Korea on Wednesday for the detention of a Russian vessel as it traveled across the Sea of Japan, Itar-Tass reported.

The Russian Embassy in Pyongyang asked the North Korean authorities to investigate the reason for the ship's seizure, the report said, citing Russian Foreign Ministry officials.

The ship, the Omsk-122, was en route from the South Korean port of Pusan to the Far East port of Vladivostok when it was boarded off the Cape of Musudan, Itar-Tass reported.

There was no immediate information on the number of crew onboard or the formal reason for its detention.

It was not clear when the detention occurred. Vesti state television showed the ship being detained at sea in images dated Feb. 13.

At least two other Russian vessels have been detained for violating North Korea's territorial waters around the cape in the past four years, RIA-Novosti reported previously.

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		World
		Moscow blames captain of China's New Star for tragic sinking
		21:56 | 19/ 02/ 2009

MOSCOW, February 19 (RIA Novosti) - The captain of a Chinese cargo ship, which sank off Russia's Pacific Coast on Sunday killing eight crewmembers, is to blame for the tragedy, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Thursday.

The New Star, owned by a Hong Kong based company, sank in the Sea of Japan 80 kilometers (50 miles) from the port of Nakhodka in the Primorye Territory during a storm. The ship had earlier been chased by two Russian coast guard vessels, but refused to stop despite being fired on.

"We regret the tragic consequences of this incident. However we consider the captain of the New Star, who behaved extremely irresponsibly, is fully to blame for the incident," Andrei Nesterenko, a spokesman for the ministry, said.

Chinese media reported earlier that the Sierra Leone-flagged New Star sank as a result of damage sustained, when the ship was fired upon by Russian border guards after the vessel left Nakhodka and crossed the Russian border without prior permission from the authorities.

"We stress that the New Star violated Russia's state border and for several hours the captain rudely ignored signals from the coast guard vessels and failed to comply with the lawful requests of the coast guard authorities," Nesterenko said.

The Russian diplomat added that a full investigation, conducted by the relevant Russian bodies, is currently underway.

The border guards fired warning shots, but when the vessel still refused to stop more direct shots were fired. According to video footage shown by Internet media in Vladivostok, Russian border guards fired a total of 515 shots at the vessel's bow. When this had no effect, they requested permission to open fire on the stern.

The ship issued a distress signal when the vessel started to take on water during the storm on Sunday, and 16 crew members, all of them Indonesian or Chinese nationals, got into two lifeboats. Half of them were picked up by a Russian vessel, but an attempt to save the other eight sailors failed when they were washed out to sea.

A small boat was discovered on Tuesday in the area where the ship sunk, but there was no one on board. The search operation launched by Russia continued on Thursday.