ST. JOHN’S, Newfoundland (CP) – More than four years after a fatal collision on the high seas, U.S. authorities have dropped their request to extradite three Russian sailors arrested when their ship docked in Newfoundland.

U.S. authorities alleged the MT Virgo, a Cypriot-flagged tanker, fled after it collided with the U.S. fishing boat Starbound off the coast of Massachusetts on Aug. 5, 2001.

Three New England fishermen – James Sanfilippo of Thomaston, Maine; Mark Doughty of Yarmouth, Maine; and Thomas Frontiero of Gloucester, Mass. – were killed. The skipper, Joseph Marcantonio of Gloucester, Mass., was the sole survivor.

The Russian-owned tanker was seized by Canadian officials soon after it arrived at the Come By Chance oil refinery in August 2001.

Capt. Vladimir Ivanov and crewmen Mikhail Gerasimenko and Dmitry Bogdanov later were arrested.

Their lawyers fought for 18 months to prevent them from being extradited to the United States, where they faced involuntary manslaughter and negligence charges. In February 2003, the three men returned home to Russia.

That was after the Newfoundland Court of Appeal ruled they no longer could be held in Canada.

The judge hearing the case said the sailors had suffered as a result of language and cultural barriers in St. John’s and the extended separation from their families.

The Russian Embassy had promised the three would return to Canada if they were asked to do so.

Late last week, the Newfoundland Supreme Court was told U.S. authorities no longer were seeking extradition of the three men.

“There’s nothing going to be done here in Canada,” said Deborah Hutchings, a lawyer for the Virgo’s owner, Primorsk Shipping Corp., and its operator, ALT Navigation.

Hutchings, a partner with McInnes Cooper in St. John’s, said the case is now being investigated by Russian prosecutors in Moscow.

“From the information I have been given by my counterpart in Russia, the matter is being taken very seriously by the Russian authorities.”

It remains unclear what American authorities will do now that the case has shifted to Russia.

U.S. justice officials could not be reached for comment Thursday.