A Panama-flagged vessel which the Swedish coast guard boarded on Sunday morning suspecting it of an environmental offence has been released after the master of the vessel admitted to a crime, the coast guard said. The Panama-registered bulk carrier Hui Yuan had been on its way from Russia to Las Palmas in Spain when it was boarded off the southern port of Ystad, the coast guard said in a statement.
The 225-metre-long vessel had been discovered flushing coal residues into the Baltic Sea on Saturday during a coast guard aircraft monitoring mission in a violation of the Nordic country's Environmental Code.
A preliminary investigation was launched and the master of the ship interviewed.
Later Sunday, the coast guard said the ship master "has admitted violating the Swedish Environmental Code" and "has deposited money for future fines.
"The ship is therefore allowed to leave Sweden," it said.
"The shipping industry should know that Swedish authorities are working close together to maintain order at sea," said Daniel Stenling, deputy head of the coast guard's operations department.
"If there is a suspicious vessel, we do intervene, based on the prevailing conditions," he added.
