LONDON (Reuters) – British police said on Friday they were granted more time to question the 59-year old Russian captain of a container ship that crashed into a U.S. tanker earlier this week.
The captain of the Portuguese-flagged Solong has been held in police custody since Monday following his arrest on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter after his ship hit the Stena Immaculate tanker, which was carrying U.S. military jet fuel.
One crew member is believed to have lost their life in the incident while 36 other crew members survived and were brought to shore.
Citing the complexity of the case, police said a court had granted them a further 24 hours to keep the man in custody, on top of the previous 36-hour extension.
Salvage companies boarded the two vessels on Thursday and were carrying out initial damage assessments, the coastguard said, adding that small fires were still being reported on the Solong’s top deck.
Police said extensive lines of inquiry were continuing but it was taking time given the vessels were still at sea and there were a large number of witnesses involved.
“Additional time has been imperative to the investigation due to the complexities of the incident,” the police said.
(Reporting by Sarah Young; Editing by Catarina Demony)
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