According to the testimony of a rescued sailor, the Comoros-flagged cargo ship Raptor, which sank off the coast of Lesbos, was heading towards Ukraine with suspicious cargo. The newspaper reports this “Kathimerini”.
The ship sank on Sunday. There were 14 crew members on the ship: 1 Indian, 11 Egyptians and 2 Syrian citizens. The Egyptian was rescued and the body of another sailor was lifted from the water. According to AMNA news agency, the Raptor was carrying a cargo of salt from Egypt to Istanbul. Presumably, before the disaster, the captain reported an engine failure and the possibility of flooding of the holds and displacement of the cargo, which led to the listing and flooding of the ship. The captain sent a distress signal to assist nearby ships in the morning, but the Raptor disappeared from radar a few minutes later.
Kathimerini reported new information about the wreck of the Raptor ship off the island of Lesbos. According to the information obtained, the ship was blacklisted by international control organizations Paris MOU and Black Sea MOU. This is due to the discovery two years ago of invalid documents for crew members and illegal entries in the Petroleum Register. The latter may indicate illegal activities of the ship, including smuggling.
Kathimerini also reported that a rescued sailor said that the ship’s final destination was Ukraine and that Istanbul was only a refueling point, which increased the authorities’ suspicions. The newspaper states that the crew probably did not seek help as instructed by the ship owner company on Saturday when the warehouses started to flood. The request for help was made just minutes before the ship sank.
The same shipping company also owned the Manassa Rose, which sank in Kissamos Bay, Crete, in January 2022. Authorities filed charges against the crew for their actions leading to the shipwreck, as well as for carrying smuggled tobacco products.
Previously in Zelensky’s office was threatened Russia is paying the price for the explosions in Ukraine.