Sailors get extradition hearing Russian seamen face charges in collision at sea that killed three

ST. JOHN’S, NEWFOUNDLAND – An extradition hearing will be held in Newfoundland for three Russian sailors implicated in a deadly collision off the coast of Massachusetts, federal Justice Minister Anne McLellan said Friday.

The three men, who were arrested in St. John’s in August, were in charge of an oil tanker that allegedly rammed a U.S. trawler, killing three of the four New England fishermen aboard.

The request for an extradition hearing came last month from the U.S. government, which wants the three sailors tried for involuntary manslaughter in a U.S. court.

“The supporting documents from the U.S. authorities met our requirements,” said Patrick Charette, a spokesman for the federal Justice Department.

The Supreme Court of Newfoundland is expected to set a date for the hearing when the men appear in court on Nov. 23, said lawyer Bob Simmonds, who represents the tanker’s captain.

Simmonds has said his client shouldn’t be sent to the United States because the case should be heard in Cyprus, which is where the tanker is registered.

The defense lawyer also said the search warrants used by investigators in Newfoundland were improperly executed.

Meanwhile, the sailors remain free on bail in St. John’s, but they’re not allowed to leave the province.

The operators of the tanker, Primorsk Shipping of Russia, have insisted the deck officers didn’t see or hear anything unusual during their two-day voyage from Boston to the refinery near Come by Chance, Nfld.

But U.S. investigators say the 541-foot tanker, the Virgo, was traveling too fast in foul weather and no one was watching the ship’s radar screens when the ship hit the 83-foot Starbound in U.S. waters on Aug. 5.

Satellite data suggests the tanker was within a few kilometers of the fishing boat when it went down about 200 kilometers off Cape Ann, Mass.

The Virgo’s captain, Vladimir Ivanov, later confirmed his ship was in the area at the time. But he has denied seeing another ship.

The tanker didn’t stop to help the sinking ship despite repeated calls for help from the U.S. Coast Guard, court documents allege.

Earlier this month, the FBI revealed it had matched teal-colored paint from the fishing boat to scrapings from the tanker’s hull.