RABAT, January 12, 23:07 /ITAR-TASS/. The Senegalese authorities have returned the documents seized from the crew of the Russian fishing trawler Oleg Naidenov, which has been kept under arrest in Dakar since last Sunday, an Russian official source in the Senegalese capital told Itar-Tass on Sunday. 

“By now, the situation aboard the ship has stabilized, there are no problems. The crew is in normal mood, with the crisis and the stress gone. Two Senegalese doctors - a military and a civilian - have provided necessary medical aid to the crew. There is enough of food and drinking water on the ship” the source said.

However, the Oleg Naidenov is still kept at the Dakar naval base. “The Senegalese authorities have not yet said when the ship would be released,” the source noted. “Both sides are interested in the trawler’s soonest release. The conflict is currently being address on the diplomatic level.”

The Oleg Naidenov suspected of illegal fishing within Senegalese waters was seized by the Senegalese military 46 miles of Guinea-Bissau on January 4 with 82 crew onboard, including 62 Russians and 20 citizens of Guinea-Bissau, and convoyed to the port of Dakar on January 5. During the seizure several sailors were injured.

The Oleg Naidenov is owned by private company Fenix, registered in Murmansk, the extreme northwest part of Russia. It is a big fishing boat of Moonzund type, 120 meters long, built in Germany in 1989.

The crew remains on board the vessel under control of the Senegalese law enforcers. Sailors’ passports were confiscated soon after the arrest and the crew was not allowed to leave the trawler.