On 8 March, the Finnish Border Guard’s MRCS Helsinki received a distress message stating that water was leaking into the engine room of a cargo ship sailing to St. Petersburg.
The reported water depth was about 5 m. The cargo vessel “Glory Hongkong” has a crew of 22, who are not in danger. The Finnish Border Guard is preparing for rapid evacuation of the crewmembers from the vessel if necessary.
The ship reported that the engine room doors are tightly closed, preventing the water from leaking into other areas. The water is reported to be leaking into the engine room from the bilge well.
Currently, grounding is not suspected, and the situation on the ship is stable. Even if the compartment were flooded, the ship does not risk sinking.
First to respond were Arctia Oy’s icebreaker Nordica, which was closest to the scene, the Finnish Border Guard’s maritime SAR helicopter, as well as patrol vessel Tursas.
At the time of the incident, the cargo ship flying the flag of Panama was in international waters to the west of Suursaari island.
