LONDON (AP) 鈥� British police said Friday the Russian captain of a cargo ship that has been charged over the death of a crew member, who is missing and presumed dead.
Vladimir Motin, who was the master of the Portugal-flagged cargo vessel Solong, will appear in Hull Magistrates鈥� Court on Saturday charged with what English legal authorities term 鈥済ross negligence manslaughter,鈥� Humberside Police said.
It wasn't immediately clear where Motin was being held or whether he has approved legal representation.
Motin, 59, who is from Primorsky, St. Petersburg, was arrested in northeast England on Tuesday, a day after the collision with the MV Stena Immaculate, a tanker in the North Sea.
Humberside Police confirmed that the missing crew member is 鈥渘ow presumed dead鈥� after extensive searches. It said the family are being supported by specialist trained officers.
The Crown Prosecution Service said Filipino national Mark Angelo Pernia, 38, has been named as the crew member who is presumed to have died in the collision.
鈥淲e have authorized Humberside Police to charge a Russian national in relation to a collision involving two vessels in the North Sea off the east coast of England," said Frank Ferguson, head of the prosecutor's office special crime and counter terrorism division.
Shipping company Ernst Russ, which owns the Solong, has said previously that the ship鈥檚 14 crew were a mix of Russian and Filipino nationals.
U.K. authorities have said there is nothing so far to indicate that it's connected to national security.
The U.K. Marine Accident Investigation Branch is also involved in investigating what caused the Solong, bound from Grangemouth, Scotland, to Rotterdam, Netherlands, to hit the stationary tanker, which was anchored about 10 miles (16 kilometers) off the English coast.
The investigation is being led by the U.S. and Portugal, the countries where the vessels are flagged.
Port inspection documents show the Solong failed steering-related safety checks in Dublin, Ireland, in July, with the vessel's "emergency steering position communications/compass reading鈥� unreadable. Inspectors found a total of 10 deficiencies, including 鈥渋nadequate鈥� alarms, survival craft 鈥渘ot properly maintained鈥� and fire doors 鈥渘ot as required."
An inspection in Scotland in October found two other deficiencies. The ship wasn't detained after either inspection.
The Associated Press
