|
PureBytes Links
Trading Reference Links
|
KIEV, Nov 5 (Reuters) - Ukrainian police said on Thursday they detained a
group of 13 American sailors after a drunken brawl broke out near the Black
Sea port of Odessa.
It was hard to establish just what caused the fight because the sailors
had consumed so much alcohol they had difficulty in expressing themselves,
police spokesman Viktor Miroshnychenko said by telephone from Odessa.
The first alert was raised by locals. "Early on Wednesday morning we
were informed by residents about a large fight near a bar and we detained 13
people who were totally drunk," he said.
The sailors were in civilian clothes and it was only at the police
station it was found they were from the warship USS Stump, in Odessa for
U.S.-Ukrainian naval exercises.
"They were so drunk they couldn't even speak English with our
translator," the spokesman said. "It is possible that the Americans saw how
Ukrainians drink and tried to do the same, but unfortunately these sailors
did not have as much experience.
(Sorry pals, you need to pass through Aussies first)
"Only in our office we discovered that those people were American
sailors from the USS Stump."
He said no serious damage was reported and the sailors, suffering from
cuts and bruises, were returned on Wednesday to USS Stump involved in Sea
Breeze 98 naval exercises.
"This was the first time that foreign naval sailors have ever been
detained by our police after a fight," he said.
It was not clear what disciplinary moves were afoot. A U.S. embassy
spokesman declined to comment on the incident.
|