Biodun Iginla, BBC News

Biodun Iginla, BBC News

Saturday, August 12, 2017

BREAKING: Danish submarine owner arrested over missing journalist


  • August 12, 2017  15H:01  GMT/UTC/ZULU TIME 
  • From the sectionEurope
Submarine owner and inventor Peter Madsen speaks to policeImage copyrightEPA
Image captionPeter Madsen (right) was rescued on Friday but the missing woman was unaccounted for
by Elodie Bagnol and Biodun Iginla, BBC News, Copenhagen
A Danish submarine owner has been charged over the death of a Swedish female journalist who had been on board his vessel before it sank.
Peter Madsen, 46, denies wrongdoing, saying he had dropped the woman off in Copenhagen before the sinking.
The reporter's partner raised the alarm in the early hours of Friday when she did not return from what was supposed to be a short journey on the vessel.
It was later spotted but sank on Friday morning and Mr Madsen was rescued.
There was no trace of the woman, however, and police launched a search. She has still not been found.
The missing woman has been identified as Kim Wall, a 30-year-old New York-based freelance journalist who has written for the New York Times, the Guardian and Vice Magazine.
Missing journalist Kim Wall
Image captionMs Wall's friends and family have been sharing this image of her
In a statement to Swedish paper Aftonbladet, Ms Wall's family said: "It is with great dismay we received the message that Kim is missing. We believe and sincerely hope she will be found save and well."
Her friends and family have been posting widely on social media asking for her whereabouts.
The authorities have not yet been able to access the vessel, known as the Nautilus, which lies on the seabed in Koge Bay, south of Copenhagen. Salvage teams are at the site.
According to the Copenhagen Post, a search of the vessel is likely to be carried out once it has been towed to port later on Saturday.
Danish police would not comment on why charges had been brought before a body had been found, but said they would offer another update later on Saturday after Mr Madsen appears in court.
Police are hunting for witnesses and camera footage to determine whether the missing woman had disembarked after setting off.
Footage aired by Denmark's TV2 shows Mr Madsen getting out of what appeared to be a private boat, giving reporters a thumbs-up sign, saying: "I am fine, but sad because Nautilus went down."
A home-built submarine, the NautiliusImage copyrightEVN
Image captionThe Nautilus is almost 18 metres long
Helicopters search Copenhagen harbour for a missing submarineImage copyrightEPA
Image captionA search was launched after the woman was reported missing
He later told a reporter: "I was out on a rehearsal trip, tinkering with different things in the submarine. Then a defect happened with a ballast tank which wasn't that serious - until I tried to repair it - then it suddenly became very serious."
"After that it took 30 seconds for Nautilus to sink. I couldn't close the catch or anything. But that might be ok, as I would still be down there then."
Ms Wall had been writing about Mr Madsen and his submarine, which at one stage was the largest privately-made vessel of its kind.
Mr Madsen made headlines in 2008 when he built the 17-metre long home-made submarine by using online crowd-funding.

Related Topics

More on this story

No comments:

Post a Comment