Six Soviets Desert Ship in Seattle, May Seek to Stay in U.S.
A Soviet research vessel left Seattle for San Francisco late Monday night minus as many as six passengers and crew members who were apparently unwilling to return to their troubled Soviet homeland.
Dan P. Danilov, a Seattle immigration attorney representing two crewman and one passenger from the ship Academic Shirshov, said he has been in contact with three other passengers who had also indicated a desire to seek asylum or extend their visas in the United States.
The commercial vessel with about 150 passengers and crew left Vladivostok as part of a commemoration of the 250th anniversary of Vitus Bering’s voyage from Russia to North America. It is scheduled to arrive in San Francisco on Thursday. A spokesman for Kerr Steamship line, the Academic Shirshov’s agents in the United States, said the vessel was slated to stop in Los Angeles on Sunday, but those plans are not definite.
Danilov said the Soviet captain told him he would not attempt to keep anyone on board by force.
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