Underway from Sczcecin to Gothenburg, carrying a cargo of sodium silicate, the "Alva" ran aground north of Landskrona in the morning of Aug 17, 2011, at 4 a.m.. The 63-year-old Latvian captain on board the freighter was arrested later. The ship had failed to change course as it passed the island of Hven in the northbound direction. When the Swedish Coastguard proceeded with the "KBV 003" and subsequently boarded the ship, they smelt alcohol on the bridge, and a subsequent alcohol meter test captain confirmed that he had been drinking alcohol. The captain was later brought to shore where a blood sample was taken. Three divers started to assess the damage, and if the Swedish authorities give permission, it is then up to the company and the insurance company to prepare a salvage plan. The freighter has a six-man crew and was the third this year to run aground in the Øre Sound.
The vessel, registered in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, were from Szczecin in Poland where early on Wednesday morning ran aground.
- On their route, one can see that they turned to port when they passed Ven, but they continued straight ahead. And do you do that you end up in Ålabodarna. Most likely, the captain had fallen asleep, said Per Mårtensson, duty at the Coast Guard in Karlskrona.
Alva, who is 68 feet long, had six crew members when the accident occurred. The boat is loaded with sodium silicate, which is used in detergents, refractory concrete, and the sealing of the tunnels.
The ship was on its way to Gothenburg when it went aground and was expected there on Wednesday night.
When the Coast Guard arrived on scene they discovered that the officers smelled alcohol. This meant that he was with the police for testing.
- A breath test shows that he has been drinking alcohol. But we also took blood tests and any results of the analysis, we have not received yet, says Eva-Lotta Hermansson-Truedsson, spokeswoman for the police in northwest Skåne.
The master is 63 years old and residents of Estonia. He is initially suspected of sjöfylleri and violations of maritime law. Crimes, if they are deemed normal rate and not coarse, gives a fine or imprisonment for up to six months. During the morning on Wednesday he was questioned by police and arrested later on Wednesday. Police worked throughout the evening to interview the crew of the boat.
On Wednesday, the Coast Guard conducted a ground survey. The study was conducted with three divers from a Coast Guard vessel by chance was in the vicinity when the alarm if the grounding came. The Coast Guard found that the grounding did not cause any leakage and that the cargo on board were safe. This allows the shipping company to start its recovery plan.
- Tomorrow night is the shipping company to transfer the cargo to another vessel, so that they can then pull the boat, says Anders Pettersson, duty officer at Coast Guard.
But the accident could have been averted. On September extends the Danish-Swedish monitoring center Sound VTS its monitoring to cover the entire Sound. Today, ending their detection zone just south of Ven. The accident occurred northeast of the Ven.
- Had we had a detection zone that today we had scanned the waters all the time. The probability has increased that we could see it and avert disaster, says Marco Svantesson, head of the Swedish part of the VTS Sound.