Ship with dangerous Russian cargo runs aground in Norwegian waters

The cargo ship Ruby, which is travelling with Russian explosives, was supposed to pass through Danish waters this weekend but got stuck in Norwegian waters. Source: This was reported by DR, as reported by European Pravda Details: MarineTraffic service, which tracks ship movements, reported that the vessel had been standing more or less motionless in the same spot in Norwegian waters on Sunday, and now it looks like the ship's plans may change.

On Friday evening, the state-owned pilotage company DanPilot told Ritzau that a pilot would board the ship on Saturday evening, but now there is no longer an order for a pilot with DanPilot.

Spokeswoman Anne Heinze reported this to DR Nyheder. "The vessel will not have a pilot tonight, and the last I heard it was in Norwegian waters," she said. A pilot is a person who assists and advises the master of a ship in navigating waters about which they have special knowledge.

The Danish Maritime Administration reported that both a pilot on board and a tugboat are required to pass through Danish waters with dangerous cargo.

The vessel is carrying 20,000 tonnes of explosive ammonium nitrate and has damage to the rudder and cracks in the hull. The cargo is seven times larger than the one that led to the explosion in Beirut in 2020, which killed at least 207 people. The MarineTraffic website wrote that Ruby was supposed to pass through the Oresund strait that connects Denmark and Sweden.

However, the strait is not deep enough for the ship to pass through. The Maltese-flagged cargo ship was denied entry to Norwegian ports. The ship ran aground on 22 August, shortly after leaving the Russian port of Kandalaksha.

Nevertheless, the vessel continued its long journey around Norway's  north to dock in the Norwegian city of Tromso. The ship was scheduled to sail to Lithuania to undergo maintenance, but the Lithuanian government refused to accept the vessel as long as it was carrying explosive cargo. The Swedish authorities also deny that the ship could dock in the ports of Gothenburg and Uddevalla, near populated areas.

In April, it was reported that a Danish civilian ferry was forced to change course near the island of Zealand because a Russian warship sailing nearby could have hit it.

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