The "Bulgarian Maritime Fleet" shipping company announced that the released ship "Vezhen" will stop in Denmark to be repaired, and then continue its voyage to South America with minor crew changes.
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Today, the Swedish prosecutor's office announced that the vessel has been released after being detained for the incident with the damaged cable in the Baltic Sea last week. The investigation has not shown any evidence of serious sabotage and this version has been rejected, the Swedish prosecutor's office announced.
"From the law firm we had hired to protect the interests of the shipowner - BMF, we received information, and subsequently a document with which the Swedish prosecutor's office released our ship, stating that there are no prerequisites to believe that the ship or its crew committed sabotage or any other malicious act. Something that I was sure of from the very beginning. Our initial investigation, which came to a conclusion, is confirmed by the authorities in Sweden," explained Capt. Alexander Kalchev - Executive Director of the Bulgarian Maritime Fleet, who gave a briefing on the case.
He stressed that he was bitter about the way many people, including politicians, reacted to the detention of the sailors and condemned them.
"This was an extremely difficult week for Bulgarian seafaring in general. I was very bitter about the many people, including politicians, who were exercising on the topic, accusing Bulgarian sailors of such an indecent act. I would emphasize Mr. Nikolay Radulov, Mr. Kiril Petkov, who obviously has some kind of fiscation with the BMF and Ms. Lena Borislavova, as they came out in parliament and managed to suggest that it was possible for Bulgarian sailors to commit such a despicable act, to come out and in the same way apologize publicly to the Bulgarian sailors", emphasized Capt. Kalchev.
"It is clear that our anchor has dropped for the reasons we assumed. The ship continues its destination. It is loaded with sulfur and will continue to Denmark to change the anchor, repair the damaged equipment and continue to South America - Uruguay and Argentina."
Capt. Kalchev said that the investigative unit at the BMF will conduct a detailed investigation when it is possible to question the crew, so that similar incidents are not allowed in the future.
He thanked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs "which did not lose faith in the Bulgarian sailors, and also the Ministry of Transport, from whom we are impressed with how they supported us at this moment".
A combination of bad weather, a shortage of equipment and crew contributed to the damage to the cable, the Swedish prosecutor's office noted.
Last Sunday, the Bulgarian ship was detained by Swedish authorities on suspicion of sabotage. There are 8 Bulgarian officers and 9 Myanmar sailors on board the vessel. An optical fiber cable was damaged in the area through which the ship passed on the night of Sunday.
From the "Bulgarian Maritime Fleet" Shipping Even then they explained that if the ship had broken an optical cable, it was because of a "leaked anchor" in bad weather and it was not about sabotage.