 According to the Russian defense minister, the hijackers approached the ship on 24 July on an inflatable boat with a purported engine problem, and were thus taken aboard by the crew.The alleged hijackers denied that any hijacking attempt took place, claiming to be environmentalists who were picked up by the ship after their boat had run out of fuel.Eleven crew members (the captain and several others remained on the ship) were returned to Moscow and held in isolation as witnesses that, quoting Alexander Bastrykin, First Deputy Prosecutor General of Russia, "need[ed] to be immediately interrogated."