Sailor in empty ship charged with murdering rest of crew

COPENHAGEN - A Danish court yesterday charged a Russian seaman from a freighter found drifting in the North Sea with the murder of five shipmates on the high seas, Reuter reports.

The 28-year-old sailor was found alone on Wednesday on board the German freighter Baerbel by Danish fishermen. The vessel left London on Saturday, destined for northern Germany. The fishermen boarded the ship 100 miles west of the Danish coast. Danish coastguards flew the man by helicopter to the west Danish port of Esbjerg.

The sailor, from Kaliningrad, denied any knowledge of the missing seamen - the German captain and four Russian crew - during a preliminary hearing, according to a police spokesman. 'The five other sailors on board the Baerbel have disappeared mysteriously,' the spokesman said.

'We suspect the Russian of murdering his shipmates as we found bloodstains on the ship and proof that someone had tried to wipe away the evidence.' There were signs that three unsuccessful attempts to set the vessel on fire, using diesel oil, had been made.

The name of the suspect, an able seaman charged by a district court in Esbjerg, was not given by police.

The German vessel had been due in the port of Brunsbuttel, northern Germany, on Monday, two days after leaving London. A search call had gone out for the Baerbel in Britain, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Norway. Aircraft from Germany and Denmark searched for her in vain on Tuesday.