Stockholm - A Swedish pilot boat averted a potential accident in the busy waters between Sweden and Denmark when it detected a drifting freighter, reports said Friday.

The Swedish pilot boat was on a routine mission late Thursday in the Oresund straits when the crew detected a Dutch freighter apparently heading for shoals in Swedish waters, the Helsingborgs Dagblad newspaper reported.

When efforts to alert the 60-metre long vessel freighter failed, the Swedish pilot boat positioned itself next to the freighter and two crew members boarded it, pilot Anders Jannesson said.

Jannesson said he initially did not see any crew at the freighter's helm and therefore reduced the vessel's speed. The captain then appeared, apparently having been asleep on a couch. Other members of the freighter's crew were sleeping in their cabins.

The Swedish pilot boat called for assistance and a Danish navy patrol boat came to the scene. The captain of the Dutch vessel was ordered to conduct a breathalyzer test and the freighter was ordered to drop anchor pending further investigation, the report said. (dpa)