How on earth has the 'Arctic Sea' vanished?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/piracy/6035400/How-on-earth-has-the-Arctic-Sea-vanished.html

How on earth has the 'Arctic Sea' vanished?

The crew are known to have made contact with Dover coastguards on July 28, but at this point there had been no international alert over the "attack" and so there was no hunt for the ship. Two days later, the Arctic Sea was spotted in the Bay of Biscay and at 1.30am on the same day its AISLive gave off its last signal in the same area.

However, shortly afterwards, the ship appears to have changed direction, apparently bearing towards the western Atlantic rather than Algiers.

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To add to the puzzle, the Arctic Sea's tracking system was reported to be broadcasting signals from the Bay of Biscay off France yesterday, according to the Russian maritime website, Sovfrakht. It said the signal appeared on a tracking service at about 8.30 am but added that it was not known if the AISLive equipment was still actually on the ship.

--snip--

One senior shipping source said: "There is obviously lots of speculation. The fact that a ship is late is in itself not a huge story, but added to the fact that the vessel was 'attacked', and yet at the same time the owners are saying 'don't worry, it is sorted', it is very odd. It is an old fashioned mystery."

Gordon Lightfoot will have a 'new' idea for a song.:hide: