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Captain of the sunken Russian ship arrested in Japan has not faced charges as of yet

Captain of the Russian "Tanya Karpinskaya" freighter Alexander Zaika, who was arrested in Japan on Thursday, has not faced official charges yet

TOKYO, February 9 (Itar-Tass) —— Captain of the Russian "Tanya Karpinskaya" freighter Alexander Zaika, who was arrested in Japan on Thursday, has not faced official charges yet, he was put under arrest on suspicions of violating the navigation rules that entailed the collision, a diplomatic source in the Russian General Consulate in Niigata told Itar-Tass on Thursday.

"Tanya Karpinskaya" freighter collided with the Kota Duta container carrier under the flag of Singapore in the Niigata port harbour on Tuesday. The Polish captain of this ship Marek was arrested on Thursday.

Both captains are being kept in the detention centre in Niigata, the Russian diplomatic source said. The detectives intend to identify the guilty among the arrested captains during interrogations. The committee of the Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism also arrived to Niigata for this purpose.

"Tanya Karpinskaya" freighter with a water displacement of 2,163 tonnes was moving from one berth to another one at the Niigata port at the moment of collision, while the Singaporean container carrier with a water displacement of 8,245 tonnes was en route to the high seas. The Russian ship was carrying 1,300 tonnes of metal scrap, which was brought to Niigata from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.

"Tanya Karpinskaya" freighter was built in 1975 and belonged to the Vladivostok-based universal trans-shipping company. This vessel was mostly involved in the coastal traffic in the last few years. 

The Primorsky transport prosecutor’s office is investigating "Tanya Karpinskaya's" sinking case.