Russian Warship Fires At its Own Vessel, Killing 3, Govt tries to cover-up the accident
A Russian warship mistakenly fired a missile at a fishing trawler named Kapitan Lobanov in the Baltic Sea, killing 3 crew members.
The incident occurred on March 19 near Russia’s Kaliningrad Oblast.
According to the family of one crew member, the vessel was mistakenly hit by a missile fired by the Russian Navy during naval exercises.
In addition to three fatalities, four other people on board were injured.
The accident report mentioned that the trawler's crew was preparing to go to bed when a missile struck the captain's bridge.
Russian authorities claimed that there had been a fire on board, and the causes were "currently unknown” and reported only one fatality.
A source informed the journalists that during the rescue, everyone knew that 3 people had died.
The source added that though it was a missile hit, the authorities decided to write there was instead an onboard fire.
The injured were questioned by the FSB, and Russian security forces asked the crew members to "keep quiet" about the incident.
A second missile fell into fishing nets near another civilian vessel, not far from Kapitan Lobanov.