The 180-meter-long vessel has, according to information from Marine Traffic, steered south through Öresund and then ended up outside the fairway.
The vessel was supposed to be on its way to a Russian port in a town called Vysotsk, near the Finnish border, says Björn Alverfeldt, press spokesperson at the Sea and Air Rescue Centre.
The Panama-flagged bulk vessel Meshka, with a crew of 24 men, is empty of cargo but has over 930,000 liters of fuel on board. It's about thick oil, diesel, and lubricating oils.
Just before 11 pm in the evening, the Coast Guard announced that their divers had not been able to find any leaks on the hull. Should an oil spill occur, they have built up a capability on site during the day to quickly handle it.
The depth where the vessel has run aground is about three meters, while the vessel has a draft of seven meters.
So it's pretty simple math that it doesn't add up, says Björn Alverfeldt.
Warned of shallows
The Swedish Maritime Administration's traffic center (VTS) warned the vessel just before the accident at 10 am on Saturday, but the warning came too late.
VTS detected that the vessel was heading towards shallows and warned, but the vessel didn't have time to change course. The sea rescue was alerted, but when it turned out that there was no danger to life, we were alerted, says Valdemar Lindekrantz, press spokesperson at the Coast Guard.
The Coast Guard, which has environmental responsibility, is now investigating together with the Transport Agency how the accident could occur.
There has been no apparent reason why the vessel ran aground. That's why we're investigating this now. There was never any warning from them that they had problems, says Valdemar Lindekrantz.
In addition, equipment is being taken to the site to be ready in case of an oil spill.
Questioned the crew
On Saturday, the crew was questioned. The sobriety tests that were conducted show that no one in the crew was intoxicated at the time of the grounding.
The Coast Guard will draw up a salvage plan together with the Transport Agency. There is still no prognosis for when a salvage operation can become relevant.
At present, the vessel is standing where it stands, the weather is favorable and there is no danger, says Lindekrantz.
