Russian Billionaire's Superyacht Mysteriously Vanishes

[babylonsister]

Russian Billionaire’s Superyacht Mysteriously Vanishes
VERY CURIOUS
The Galactica Super Nova yacht owned by Lukoil CEO Vagit Alekperov seems to have turned off its tracking system, which would violate international maritime regulations.
Noah Kirsch
Wealth and Power Reporter
Updated Mar. 10, 2022 5:16AM ET / Published Mar. 09, 2022 8:06PM ET


It’s a 230-foot superyacht with room for 28 guests and crew—and yet, in the last week, it has seemingly vanished, just as other vessels belonging to Russian billionaires have been frozen or seized.

The Galactica Super Nova, owned by Lukoil CEO Vagit Alekperov, sailed in recent weeks from Barcelona to Tivat, Montenegro, arriving on March 1. But just a day later, the boat departed, according to data from the yacht-tracking group MarineTraffic.

An official at the port in Montenegro confirmed that the yacht was no longer there.

Soon after it left, Galactica’s automatic tracking system, also known as AIS, stopped pinging out signals, reports MarineTraffic and its competitors VesselFinder and VesselsValue. As of Wednesday afternoon Central European Time, the boat had yet to update its location.

It is legally required for all yachts of Galactica’s size to have their AIS turned on “at all times,” said Sam Tucker, head of superyachts at VesselsValue. “For the past 12 months, we have had a very reliable signal coming from this vessel, so after seeing it [leave] Porto Montenegro, we are very surprised that there has been no signal received from either our satellites or ground stations.”

more...

https://www.thedailybeast.com/russian-billionaire-vagit-alekperovs-superyacht-galactica-super-nova-mysteriously-vanishes?ref=home