A multisource video news service that highlights nuances in reporting from media outlets around the world.

The mystery of a missing ship. The ship, known as the “Arctic Sea”, was carrying timber and 15 Russian crewmembers. It disappeared late July after leaving its port in Finland. Some media sources are pointing to pirate attacks, but others say piracy is almost unheard of in European waters, and it could simply be a loss of communication.

A correspondent for CBS News says the mystery begins a day after the ship set off.

“The crew told officials in Sweden they were stopped and boarded by armed men dressed as Narcotics police, and then released.”

A reporter for FOXNews says that although there has been no contact from the ship since then, there have been supposed sightings of the ship.

“A Russian warship may be shadowing this thing up which is in the coast right now. So far though officially the Russian navy has been denying that.”

Various news sources present different perspectives on the ship’s disappearance.
Russia Today gives the view of a sailor who says it is unlikely that the ship has capsized.

“A vessel carrying a cargo of timbre cannot sink. I transported timbre for many years, and I know for sure. Even if the ship did sink, the timbre would be floating all over the sea.”

NPR says the Arctic Sea is an old ship carrying inexpensive cargo. It speaks with a writer from a shipping newspaper who rules out possibilities of theft.

“A lot of piracy is often basically armed robbery at sea. People want the contents of the ship’s safe and the crew’s wallets. That doesn’t seem to be the case here.”

A reporter for CNN says it is unlikely that the ship was captured for ransom because no one has heard from it. She suggests another reason for the ship’s disappearance.

“There have been other instances of piracy where pirates have boarded the ship, got rid of the crew somehow, and then re-painted and re-named the vessel, and used this as sort of phantom vessel to pick cargo up from ports around the country. So it’s possible that in this instance, if the ‘Arctic Sea’, as the ship is known, has been captured by pirates that they planned to use it for those purposes.”

A writer for Times Online says the ship may be carrying some secret cargo.

“There was speculation that the ship had been seized by the Russian Mafia as part of a dispute over arms or weapons smuggling.”

Al Jazeera English says there is too much wild speculation.

“Other maritime experts cast doubt on whether the ship had been seized, saying it merely had not been heard from, which while uncommon, was not completely out of the ordinary.”

So what do you think happened to the ship? Is the media making too much of it?