Crew members of a North Korean vessel currently captured in Hong Kong on charges of safety violations Tuesday said their ship would soon set sail, claiming the ship is on a route to pick up cargo.
"(We) came to pick up cargo. We will depart in two days after uploading the cargo," a sailor on the North Korean ship, Kang Nam No. 1, told Yonhap News Agency.
The ship arrived here Sunday from Shanghai and was detained Monday after local inspectors found faulty navigational, fire-fighting and life-safety equipment, as well as outdated nautical charts, according to the South China Morning Post.
The inspectors in total found 25 accounts of safety violations, the Hong Kong newspaper reported.
The incident, however, appeared unrelated to a recent U.N. resolution that called on countries to inspect cargo leaving or arriving in communist North Korea to prevent any transfer of equipment, parts or materials related to missiles or other weapons of mass destruction programs.
"It is nothing special, just the violation of safety regulations," an official at Hong Kong's Customs and Marine Department said. "They (the North Korean crew) should go through every procedure, and will be able to set sail if they meet the safety rules."
The North Korean sailors on the 2,000-ton vessel said about 20 people were aboard the ship, but refused a request by reporters to come aboard, saying they cannot allow it because their "captain is unavailable."
The North Korean ship was reportedly scheduled to drop off scrap metal in Taiwan before heading to its communist homeland.
Roger Tupper, a director from Hong Kong's Customs and Marine Departments, was earlier quoted as saying that eight other North Korean vessels had been stopped on similar suspicions this year, six of which were detained as a result.
The marine official failed to mention how long Kang Nam No. 1 would be detained.
North Korean sailors on the ship refused to make any further comment.
Hong Kong, Oct. 24 (Yonhap News)
N. Korean ship seized in Hong Kong to depart in two days, sailors claim |
