January 18, 1999
Dow Jones Newswires
Seabulk Hercules Ship Released;
Engineers Still Unaccounted
Dow Jones Newswires
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP)--An American ship
impounded last week after the mysterious disappearance at
sea of two marine engineers has been freed, a charter
company official said Monday.
Police had ordered the Seabulk Hercules and its crew not
to leave Dubai after New Zealander Aaron Hopa and his
British colleague, Robert Glazzard, disappeared Jan. 11,
hours before the ship docked in Dubai.
Michael Lothem, operations manager for Oceaneering
International, the Houston company that had chartered the
ship, told The Associated Press that Dubai police had
released the vessel and its crew.
Police officials said they believed the men could have
fallen overboard somewhere in the Gulf. A search was
ordered after the two were reported missing when the ship
docked in Dubai.
The two engineers, both 28, were last seen drinking coffee
and listening to music on the deck of the Seabulk Hercules
by the ship's cook after midnight on Jan. 11.
The weather was fair at the time, and both men were
experienced at sea. Their passports and wallets were
found on the ship.
Jim Hopa, father of the missing New Zealander and a
policeman himself, was expected to arrive in Dubai on
Tuesday, Lothem said.
The 894-ton Seabulk Hercules is owned by Seabulk
Offshore Ltd., part of Hvide Marine Inc. (HMAR).
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