Ali-Aykin

The Turkish captain of the 'Ali Aykin' has been convicted of gross negligence in maritime traffic after the ship ran aground on May 25 off Klagshamn, south of Malmö, en route from Gdansk to Setúbal with a cargo of scrap metal and 69 tons of diesel oil on board. The penalty is a suspended sentence. He was scrolling on Instagram and YouTube, among other things, while the ship was sailing in an area where, according to the district court, there is special reason to be vigilant. In early June, the ship was towed to the port of Malmö.

On June 25, the second mate of the 'Ali Aykin', who was the officer on watch when the ship ran aground off Klagshamn on May 25 was charged with gross negligence in maritime traffic. According to the prosecution. the accident happened because the man was scrolling on his mobile phone. .The man, who is in his 45s, was arrested and later remanded in custody on suspicion of gross negligence in maritime traffic. It was also found out that the man was navigating the ship in the dark without a working echo sounder and without support from a lookout or commander, insted using his mobile phone at the same time. The evidence consisted of, among other things, interviews with the crew, ship data and extracts from the sea chart. The prosecutors, besides questioning the crew and taking documents from the ship were also making a damage documentation of the ship’s bottom and checking what the weather was like at this time to see if it had any impact,. No oil leak occurred when the ship ran aground. The 'Ali Aykin', en route from Gdansk to Setúbal, was loaded with scrap metal. There were also 69 tos of diesel oil on board. On June 3, the ship was salvaged and piloted into the port of Malmö for inspections and repairs. The 'Ali Aykin' has remained stationary in the port since.

As of June 10, the 'Ali Aykin' remained stationary in Malmö, while the investigations were still going on, why it deviated from the shipping channel. and grounded on the soft bottom of sand and stone near Klagshamn. The authorities have served notice and detained one crew member on suspicion of gross negligence in maritime traffic. One crew member was being investigated for drunkenness. The Swedish Coast Guard had feared an oil leakage from the 69 tons of fuel oil aboard the ship, after a breach was discovered in one of theballast tanks. The flooding of the tank had complicate the salvage efforts. On June 3, the salvage company hired by the owners began offloading a portion of the cargo of scrap to an adjacent barge.The salvage operation was supervised by hree Coast Guard vessels. The vessel will undergo a further inspection while the prosecutors were proceeding with the investigation regarding the actions of the crew.

On the late evening of June 4, the 'Ali Aykin' was refloated and berthed in Malmö on June 5 shortly after midnight. The ship reached the port with own power, assisted by tugs and monitored by ships from the Swedish Coast Guard. The transit to the port took two hours in good conditions No oil spills were observed neither during the salvage nor during the way to Malmö. The successful salvage was the result of the close and intensive cooperation between several authorities and private actors. The environmental threat in the Sound has been eliminated with joint efforts. The preliminary investigation into gross negligence in maritime traffic is being led by prosecutors and is still ongoing. One person on the crew has been served with a suspicion and is being detained. The work to prevent oil spills from the other grounded ship, the 'Meshka' was continued off Landskrona. The situation there was desciribed as complex but under control, and measures were being taken to minimize the risk of environmental impact by the Coast Guard. The 'Meshka' has approximately 938 metric tons of oil in fuel and lubricating oil in its tanks. The authority has vessels on site with the ability to combat oil spills. Reports with photo and video: https://www.kustbevakningen.se/nyheter/fartyg-pa-grund-soder-om-oresund/ https://www.svt.se/nyheter/lokalt/skane/se-nar-det-grundstotta-fartyget-i-oresund-bargas