The mystery of the abandoned Lebanese Merchant Vessel Al Murtada off Ratnagiri coast deepened today after investigations revealed Canadian warships had boarded the ship in March and found no Somali gunrunners on board.In June, the US navy found the ship adrift 700 miles off the Indian coast and rescued the crew. ‘‘There was a hurricane and the ship made a distress call saying they were sinking. USS John F. Kennedy sent a helicopter and the 16-member crew was rescued and put on board another ship bound for Kandla. The crew reached India in June and said the ship sank in the hurricane. ‘‘We are trying to get to the crew,’’ Vice Admiral O.P. Bansal, Director General, Coast Guard, said.The Lebanese owner of the ship today called Bansal from Beirut and said he would arrive tomorrow as he had got his visa only today. ‘‘But he could not explain how the Ak-47 rifles and ammunition came on board,’’ Bansal added.The owner continues to claim his ship was taken over by Somali gunrunners in January and said he had no idea what happened after that. Today, 74 live rounds of Ak-47 rifles and three ammunition magazines were recovered during the search of the abandoned ship.‘‘The owner’s claim that the vessel was captured by Somali militia from January to June this year appears to be false as a Canadian warship had boarded the vessel on March 6 this year and no sign of militia was observed on board,’’ a ministry of defence spokesman said today.It now appears the vessel was sighted adrift by US Navy on June 16 about 700 miles west of Ratnagiri, the crew rescued and put on board the merchant ship Stolt Spray. This ship reached Kandla on June 18. Two Lebanese, (including the captain), four Syrians, six Somalis and four Indians made up the Al Murtada crew.
