Ruslana

Polish authorities have confirmed the detention of the 'Ruslana' in the Gdańsk Bay. An inspector of the state port inspection of the Maritime Office in Gdynia and officers of the border service inspected the vessel. A note on the ship’s detention was drawn. The police were informed about the incident in the night of December 3 when the ship was heading straight towards the island of Sobieszewo at a speed of 11 knots and would have run aground if not for a sharp last-minute turn. Coast guard inspectors found that three crew members, including the captain, were inebriated at the time of the incident. The crew will be replaced on Dec 13 by sailors from Russia’s central European enclave of Kaliningrad.

The 'Ruslana', en route from Klaipeda to Gdansk, nearly ran aground at the coast of Gdansk in the morning of Dec 4, 2021. The ship was heading straight towards the coastline, alerting the Polish traffic control and other services controlling safe navigation. They tried in vain to contact the ship, wherupon the MRCC sent a fast SAR boat with a team of the Coast Guard on board, but then the ship made a sharp turn to starboard and moved away from the coast, prior to boarding. The helmsman was either alerted by the radio calls, or took situation under control by himself. In fact the , Captain and two officers were found to be drunk. The ship was anchored off Gdansk in pos. 54° 26.27' N 018° 49.82' E at 5.30 a.m., where it remained stationary as of Dec 7.