Two members of the crew of a British freighter, a Croatian and a British, were taken into custody on Monday for their role in the fatal collision of their ship with a Danish freighter in the Baltic Sea, Swedish justice announced.
A preliminary investigation for "
aggravated drunkenness, aggravated negligence in maritime traffic and aggravated manslaughter
" was opened, specified the prosecution in a press release.
The accident happened at night around 3.30 am local (02.30 GMT) off the port of Ystad in southern Sweden, between the British freighter "
Scot Carrier
" and a Danish vessel, the "
Karin Høj
", which capsized in shock.
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After extensive search operations, the body of one of the Danish freighter's two crew members was found inside the ship on Monday afternoon, while the other went missing with little hope of survival, in a very cold sea (four degrees). Swedish justice has not confirmed the role of the two men arrested among the crew of the "
Scot Carrier
", nor the details of the suspicions against them. He is a 56-year-old Croatian and a 30-year-old Briton. The investigation was entrusted to a prosecutor specializing in maritime affairs. The sector is an important maritime traffic route, to access the Öresund Strait which connects the North Sea and the Baltic via the seas of Kattegat and Skagerrak. But collisions are rare.
