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Russian captain of cargo ship running aground off Swedish coast placed in custody

Official charges against the Russian national are to be brought by August 17

STOCKHOLM, August 5. /TASS/. A Russian captain of the BBC Lagos cargo ship, which ran aground off Sweden’s coast, has been placed in custody, Sweden’s SVT television channel said on Sunday citing a court ruling.

The court passed this ruling fearing that the man might flee the country.

According to the captain’s lawyer, Ronald Tiden, the man, who had worked as captain for eleven years, admitted his quilt saying he was drunk while driving the vessel.

Official charges against the Russian national are to be brought by August 17.

Russia’s consulate in Goteborg told TASS earlier on Sunday it was keeping a close eye on the situation, being in contact with Swedish law enforcement agencies.

The 130-meter cargo ship BBC Lagos, carrying 5,000 tonnes of wheat, ran aground on Friday near the Helsingborg port in the Oresund Strait. The captain, who was detained on suspicion of steering the ship when being drunk, may be sentenced to a jail term.

According to the coast guards, the vessel was en route from Lithuania’s Klaipeda to Spain’s Las Palmas. It was registered in the Caribbean Islands of Antigua and Barbuda.