Sea Shepherd captain claims ship suspected of illegal poaching may have been ‘intentionally scuttled’ after rescuing 40 of its crew members

The Sea Shepherd ship the Bob Barker had been following the suspected poaching boat for 110 prior to the rescue

The Bob Barker crew saving the crew members of the ship accused of illegal poaching (AFP/Getty Images)

Environmentalist group Sea Shepherd says they believe there were signs that a ship that sank off the coast of west Africa on Monday had been “intentionally scuttled”, following a rescue operation that saw them save 40 crew members from the vessel suspected of illegal poaching.

The Sea Shepherd ships, the Bob Barker and Sam Simon, rescued the crew from the alleged poaching vessel Thunder off the coast of west Africa after they had received a distress call on Monday afternoon.

Adding: “It appeared as though the ship and crew were in a serious situation.”

The life rafts were then towed by the Bob Barker to its bigger sister ship, the Sam Simon.

The rescued crew members will now be taken to São Tomé and Príncipe, in the Gulf of Guinea.

The incident comes after a pursuit that has seen the Bob Barker follow the Thunder vessel for nearly 110 days after Sea Shepherd raised suspicions that the Thunder ship had been poaching the highly sought after but under-threat toothfish.

During that period of time, Sea Shepherd has reported a number of incidents in which it claims the Thunder crew has shown aggressive behaviour towards the Bob Barker.

The vessel named Thunder sinking after it took water on board on Monday (AFP/Getty Images) (AFP/Getty)

Speaking after the rescue, Captain Hammarstedt said: “It was a very unusual situation. Certainly the crew on board that vessel have been very aggressive towards my crew and my ship for the past almost four months, so it was a weird, surreal experience having to take them on board one of our ships, but it is our legal and moral obligation to do so.”

Captain Hammarstedt also said that when the boat finally sunk below the water, the rescued crew members were heard cheering and applauding, leading him to believe that the ship had been scuttled intentionally.