98 items seized during search of trawler

BOSTON – The Royal Canadian Mounted Police seized 98 items from the M.T. Virgo that U.S. authorities hope will prove the Russian tanker rammed the trawler Starbound, killing three of the four fishermen on board.

The items include evidence from the captain’s quarters that refer to the Aug. 5 collision about 130 miles east of Cape Ann, according to papers filed at Newfoundland Supreme Court, The Boston Globe reported.

The police would not say whether the items seized show the crew knew the tanker had collided with the trawler, as is alleged.

The evidence, gathered during searches of the ship that started Aug. 10 and ended Monday, includes documents, marine charts and computer disks. It contains “three separate documents which refer to the sinking of the Starbound,” according to the court list.

The RCMP also found documents in an envelope on the captain’s desk and documents in his computer that relate to the sinking of the Starbound, according to court papers.

The records could establish whether the Virgo ignored a flurry of emergency notices from the U.S. Coast Guard after the collision, and a summons to aid the vessel.

The Coast Guard has placed the Virgo seven-tenths of a mile from the life raft that held the Starbound’s skipper, who was the only survivor.

Primorsk Shipping Corp., the Russian company that manages the Cypriot-owned vessel, repeatedly has said the crew wasn’t aware of any collision on the voyage from Boston to Come by Chance, Newfoundland.

Captain Vladimir Ivanov, 2nd Officer Dmitriy Bogdanov and deck watch officer Mikhail Gerasimenko face U.S. charges of involuntary manslaughter and misconduct or neglect by sea officers resulting in death.

The men are free on bail but are required to stay in Newfoundland.