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Japan arrests Russian trawler’s captain assistant after collision with local fishing boat

He is now charged with an account of a wrongful death

TOKYO, June 7. /TASS/. A captain assistant of the Russian trawler Amur, which collided with Japan’s Hokko Maru No. 8 fishing vessel on May 26, has been arrested, the Russian Consulate General’s Office in Sapporo reported on Monday.

"We have just received information about the detention of the vessel’s 3rd captain assistant, who was on duty [during the incident]," the Russian Consulate General’s office stated.

The Coast Guard Service of the Japanese port city of Mombetsu confirmed to TASS that Russia’s 38-year-old Pavel Dobryantsky was arrested at 9:46 am local time (3:46 am Moscow time).

Japan’s Kyodo news agency reported earlier in the day that the Coast Guard Service of the Japanese port city of Mombetsu has arrested a navigating officer of Russian trawler Amur. The agency later issued corrections to its previous reports stating that a person at the issue was a captain assistant, who is now charged with an account of a wrongful death.

The incident occurred on May 26, about 23 kilometers off the coast of Hokkaido. Three of the five-crew members of the Hokko Maru No. 8 boat died as a result of the collision.

Two survivors were brought onshore, they are not in any life-threatening danger. According to the Russian Embassy in Japan, the Amur trawler was directed to Mombetsu port after the incident.