MOSCOW, October 24 (RIA Novosti) - A Russian yacht with a two-man crew that was sailing across the Red Sea on its way to the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia's Fast East has been detained in Eritrea, either by officials or an armed group, an official in the Kamchatka administration said Tuesday.
The Svenja, owned by Kamchatka's Yacht Racing Federation, was seized while docking on the coast of the northeast African country after running out of fuel in stormy weather, according to a radio-message received by a nearby Russian ship.
The ship then informed Kamchatka authorities of the incident by e-mail.
The spokesman said it remains unclear who is detaining the crew, Eritrean authorities or an armed group. The two men, one of whom is the yacht federation's chief Yevgeny Panchenko, have had their identification documents and navigation charts seized, he said.
The Russian Foreign Ministry has been informed of the incident, the spokesman said.
