The cargo ship Wilson Avonmouth was in danger of running aground north of Helsingør on Oct 10, 2012, around midnight. Drunken captain woke up at the very last minute. A quick response and cooperation between Danish and Swedish authorities prevented a Maltese-registered cargo ship running aground north of Elsinore on Tuesday night.
Around midnight VTS Øresund found that the Maltese-registered cargo ship was heading towards ground north of Elsinore. The ship was southbound and had during the last hour kept the same course. According VTS calculations, course and speed would lead to a grounding within approximately 30 minutes and everything therefore had to be initiated extremely quickly and effectively to get the ship to change course.
Communication with the vessel could not be established and this led to the suspicion of drunken sailing and the Danish police was contacted. 10 minutes before grounding contact was finally made with the ship. It then quickly changed its course away from the coast and a grounding was prevented.
The Ukranian-born captain was found with a high percentage of alcohol in his blood and is to be charged with breaking maritime safety.
Source: SeaNews Turkey
Officer of the Watch 
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