Russia finds Arctic Sea ship, 'debriefing' crew

A cargo ship whose mysterious disappearance sparked a massive naval hunt has been found and its crew transferred to a Russian military vessel, Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said on Monday.

The Arctic Sea was located around 0230 IST on Monday about 483 kilometres from the Cape Verde archipelago in the Atlantic, Serdyukov said, after intensive search efforts by Russian and NATO ships in the past 10 days.

"The crew has been transferred aboard our anti-submarine ship," Serdyukov told President Dmitry Medvedev in a meeting that was broadcast on Russian state television.

He said all members of the Russian crew were "alive, healthy and are not under armed guard."

Serdyukov made no mention however of the current whereabouts of the ship itself and his announcement did little to clear up the mystery over what happened in recent weeks to the Maltese-flagged, Russian cargo ship which was feared to have been hijacked.

"Debriefing is under way to clarify all aspects of the disappearance and loss of signal from this vessel," Serdyukov said.

"In the coming hours we will explain what happened with it, why communications with it were lost, why it changed its itinerary."

Medvedev called for a full investigation of the Arctic Sea mystery and vowed that "all interested parties" would be informed on the results.

The crew of the Arctic Sea was taken aboard the Russian submarine hunter Ladny, Serdyukov said. He offered no immediate further details on the operation that resulted in the crew being taken aboard the Russian warship.