South Korea's Coast Guard on Tuesday detained Russian vessel Palladiy over an attempt to leave the country illegally, warning shots were fired, Russian Consul in Busan Roman Bykov told Sputnik.
TOKYO (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 28th August, 2018) South Korea's Coast Guard on Tuesday detained Russian vessel Palladiy over an attempt to leave the country illegally, warning shots were fired, Russian Consul in Busan Roman Bykov told Sputnik.
"This morning, the Consulate General [of Russia] was notified by the South Korean Coast Guard that the vessel had been detained. At 1 a.m. [local time, 17:00 GMT] the vessel attempted to leave the port in secret, without registering. The coast guard asked them to stop, a coast guard vessel had to be used, the [Russian] ship continued moving toward Japan, the Koreans had to fire warning shots, a helicopter had been called in," the consul said.
The ship has had to remain in Busan since June as the crew had not been paid and could not return home. The shipowner is normally expected to cover the costs, but the company said it could not do that.
According to the consul, the crew will have to face the investigation over who decided to leave once they return to the South Korean port.
"This is not just about the fact that they left the port without logging it properly, but they resisted the arrest of the vessel. That is a much more serious violation. So I cannot exclude that some crew will be detained for further court proceedings," the consul said.
Bykov added that some of the crew were likely to face charges in the next 72 hours.
