Little damage could have been done to the Russian-crewed cargo ship “Arctic Sea”, according to Joe Cox, CEO of the Chamber of Shipping of America.
He says if that were the case, the vessel would have sent alert signals automatically.
However, tracking devices onboard the ship could have been switched off manually:
“You have an AIS system (Automatic Identification System) onboard which can be turned off by the vessel. If something happened to the vessel, it could press a button to send a radio alert, outside the AIS system – this would be satellite-based,” Joe Cox told RT.
“An American satellite system or a Russian satellite system would pick up the signals very clearly. If the vessel sank or something happened to it, radio devices are automatically ejected from the vessel.”