MOSCOW, January 11, /ITAR-TASS/. Russian diplomats in Senegal continue energetic efforts to ensure legal rights and interests of Russian citizens aboard the Oleg Naydenov trawler, including their free movement outside the ship, the Foreign Ministry reported on Saturday, January 11.
“Services of the Dakar port assured Russian diplomats that they gave all necessary things, including drinking water, food and power. In case of necessity our sailors will be provided qualified medical assistance,” the ministry said.
One more crewmember of the Russian trawler “Oleg Naydenov” detained in Senegal has needed medical assistance, executive director of the Feniks ship owner company Yuri Parshev told Itar-Tass.
“The Senegalese authorities pledged that injured people would be carried to hospital. We expect a special car to transport them to the clinic,” Parshev said.
The trawler’s captain was also expected to be carried to the clinic. The captain suffered kidney problems. Other sailors - Russian citizens and citizens of Guinea-Bissau feel well, the Russian official said.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said intensive talks were being held with a representative of the ship owner to determine the conditions for freeing the Russian trawler crewmembers.
“The Russian Foreign Ministry and the Federal Fisheries Agency monitored the situation around the Oleg Naydenov trawler and the state of Russian sailors. The Russian Embassy and the agency’s office in Dakar were given strict instructions to demand the Senegalese authorities respond to the note. The Russian Embassy demanded explanations be given on the causes and circumstances of the detention of the Russian trawler and its crew,” the ministry said.
The trawler Oleg Naydenov was detained off Guinea Bissau on January 4 for suspected illegal fishing, Lieutenant-Colonel Adama Diop, from the public relations office at the Senegalese Army, said last week.
There were 82 persons aboard the ship - 62 Russians and 20 citizens of Guinea Bissau. The trawler was procuring fish off that African country under an inter-governmental agreement, which requires Russian sailors to take locals aboard for training and work.
The trawler belongs to the closed joint stock company Feniks registered in Murmansk, northern Russia. The company said every idle day of the ship in Dakar would cost it one million roubles. “This is an approximate amount and it may increase depending on the time and terms of demurrage,” Parshev, told Itar-Tass.
“The trawler has been operating in this region for a long time and took on a new Russian crew in Dakar on December 22 - 62 Russian citizens, mainly residents of the Murmansk Region. The ship entered and left the port unhindered,” he said.
Parshev noted, however, that the Senegalese authorities had repeatedly accused Russian ships of breaching fishing rules and imposed fines upon them, including the Oleg Naydenov.
Its owner, senior officials of the Federal Fisheries Agency, the Russian Foreign Ministry, Defence Ministry, Emergencies Ministry and other relevant organisations have been notified about the incident.
The Oleg Naydenov is a large factory trawler, 120 metres long. It was built in Germany in 1989 and received its current name in 2005 in honour of Murmansk’s first mayor. Prior to that, its name was Leonid Galchenko.