Arctic tours ship SJOVEIEN with 12 tourists and 10 crew on board suffered engine failure in the evening Sep 2 in Svalbard Archipelago waters, and requested assistance. Offshore tug POLARSYSSEL (IMO 9690949) took disabled ship on tow to Longyearbyen, same day. As of 400 UTC Sep 4, caravan was approaching Longyearbyen.
Exhibition ship SJOVEIEN, IMO 7739777, GT 331, built 1964, refurbished 2017, flag Panama, owner CESAM REDERI AS.
My name is Mikhail Voytenko, I’m Russian, professional merchant marine navigator, by education and former experience. I own and run Maritime Bulletin website for more than 10 years. I've been involved in solving a number of piracy hijack cases, including the hijack of ro-ro FAINA, loaded with tanks. It was me who made public, and unravel, freighter ARCTIC SEA mystery. I've been also closely involved in a number of maritime disaster, one of them being MSC FLAMINIA major fire.