Black Sea Fleet ships to search for ship lost in Atlantic

"At 23:00 Moscow time on Tuesday four ships of the Black Sea Fleet will pass the Strait of Gibraltar to enter the Atlantic Ocean and begin search operation of the Arctic Sea in the probable area of disaster," the official said.

The squadron of ships is heading for the Baltic Sea to take part in the large-scale naval exercise West 2009.

On Sunday, the Russian Navy's press service said the Navy command analyses the information on the Arctic Sea that supposedly got missing off the Portuguese coast.

The missing vessel was loaded with timber in the Finnish port of Pietarsaari. Before this voyage it had been undergoing repairs in Kaliningrad for two weeks. The ship with the deadweight of 4,706 tons was to deliver timber to Algeria's port, Russia's edition Maritime Bulletin - Sovfracht web portal reported; Kazinform has learnt from Itar-Tass.

See www.itar-tass.com for full version.