Intercepted merchant ship capt commits suicide

Intercepted merchant ship capt commits suicide
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

NEW DELHI, DEC 25: The captain of a merchant ship intercepted by the Coast Guard after a hot chase in Indian territorial waters off Pondicherry has committed suicide by hanging himself by a nylon rope, an official release said here on Saturday.

The Coast Guard vessel `Vikram' with the help of two aircraft on Friday managed to track down the vessel `hijacked' by its 25 Ukranian crew along with its cargo, it said.

"The door of the cabin was closed from inside. The second captain of the ship went to his cabin and, after breaking open the door, found that Yuri Liuvosky, the captain, has committed suicide by hanging himself by a nylon rope," an official release said quoting director Coast Guard operations.The Custom officials and intelligence agencies are on board the ship, which had changed its name from Kobe Queen-1 to Gloria Kopp, for further investigations, it said.

The vessel was travelling on a route not specified for it, the release said."This is a kind of piracy committed by the owner of the ship with the connivance of the consignee and the consigner," the release alleged, adding according to International Piracy Reporting Centre the cargo insurance company had announced a reward of 1000,000 US dollar.