MOSCOW, January 9 (RIA Novosti) – The crew of a Russian fishing trawler detained by authorities near Senegal on Saturday on suspicion of illegal fishing is “feeling fine,” the captain told RIA Novosti by telephone on Thursday amid concern over the wellbeing of the 62 Russians on board.
Russian officials have urged Senegal to provide medical care, drinking water and waste disposal for the crew of the Oleg Naidenov.
An agreement was reached Thursday to supply the detained trawler with drinking water from a French warship already in Senegal, a source at the Russian Fisheries Agency told RIA Novosti. Yury Parshev, the director of the company that operates the Oleg Naidenov, said however that its water reserves should last two months.
The ship’s captain, Vadim Mantorov, told RIA Novosti he has been suffering from a pain in his side that the ship’s doctor cannot diagnose and is awaiting permission to go to a private clinic as he does not want to seek treatment at a military hospital out of fear for his safety.
Senegal's Foreign Ministry said Thursday an official explanation as to the cause of the seizure is forthcoming and that no effort would be spared in resolving the situation. A senior Senegalese diplomat in Russia was summoned to the Foreign Ministry on Thursday to a 40-minute meeting, a source at the ministry told RIA Novosti.
The ship's owner said Thursday it is preparing to file a lawsuit at the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea on the matter.
The Oleg Naidenov was detained by Senegal on Saturday on suspicion of illegal fishing in Senegalese waters and remains under guard in the port of Dakar. The ship was operating near the border with Guinea-Bissau.
“We were working under a license from Guinea-Bissau … at the moment of the seizure we were in the waters of Guinea-Bissau and were not trawling [for fish],” Mantorov said Thursday.
Mantorov and a galley attendant were injured during the detention of the trawler, a spokesman for the Russian Fisheries Agency said Sunday.
The head of the agency said in a TV interview that Greenpeace had “prompted” the detention of the vessel, an accusation that Greenpeace’s Russian head dismissed as “strange.” The environmental organization had put the vessel on a blacklist of illegal poachers after it was caught fishing without a license in Senegalese waters a year ago.
The Senegalese authorities are planning on confiscating its cargo and fining the company that operates the trawler 600,000 euros.
Updated with new headline and lede, comments by the ship's captain and information following diplomatic meetings Thursday.
