APRIL 2, 2015
MOSCOW
(Reuters) - At least
54 crew on a Russian fishing trawler died and 15 were missing after it sank in
freezing waters off the Kamchatka Peninsula in the Western Pacific Ocean late
on Wednesday, officials in the area said.
Sixty-three of the 132 people on board the Dalniy Vostok
were rescued with the sea's temperature near zero degrees Celsius (32 degrees
Fahrenheit), Viktor Klepikov, coordinating captain of the Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky
maritime rescue coordination center, told Reuters.
"The rescue operation is going on, we are still looking
for 15 people," Klepikov said. "At this time we do not know what
might have caused the tragedy."
Russia's TASS news agency cited a deputy head of the
Kamchatka region as saying the crew might have violated safety rules by
exceeding the capacity of cargo storage.
"According to preliminary information, the shipwreck
occurred while hauling a 100-tonne fishing seine," TASS cited Sergei
Khabarov as saying.
The Russian Interfax news agency cited an unidentified
source at the region's rescue center as saying that large amounts of drifting
ice might have damaged the body of the ship, which sank within 15 minutes.
Russia has a dismal air, road and water safety record, with
negligence and corruption often the cause of accidents. In 2011, an aging,
overcrowded tourist boat sank in Russia's Volga River, killing nearly 130
people in one of the worst post-Soviet ship disasters.
The trawler was carrying 78 Russian nationals, as well as 54
foreign nationals from Myanmar, Ukraine, Lithuania, and Vanuatu.
It sank in the Sea of Okhotsk, 330 km (205 miles) west of
Krutogorovsky settlement in the Kamchatka region and 250 km (155 miles) south
of the city of Magadan.
The home port of the trawler, which was owned by Magellan
LLC, was Nevelsk in Russia's Sakhalin region.
Source: Reuters.com
Source: Reuters.com
//-----------------//
RUSSIAN TRAWLER WITH 132 CREW SINKS, AT LEAST 54 DEAD
APRIL 2, 2015
MOSCOW (AP)
A Russian trawler sank in just 15 minutes in
icy waters off Russia's Far Eastern coast early Thursday, killing at least 54
crew members, rescue workers said.
The massive trawler Dalny Vostok, with an international crew
of 132, sank at about 4 a.m. local time (1800 GMT on Wednesday) in the Sea of
Okhotsk off the Kamchatka Peninsula. It did not send distress signals prior to
the sinking, the Interfax news agency said.
Emergency services in Kamchatka, citing the head of the
rescue operation, said 63 crew members were rescued and the fate of the remaining
15 was unknown.
In this undated photo provided by Russian Emergency
Situations Ministry, a Russian trawler, the same type as Dalny Vostok, is seen
in an undisclosed location. The Russian freezer trawler Dalny Vostok with an
international crew of 132 sank Thursday morning, April 2, 2015, in the Sea of
Okhotsk off of the Kamchatka Peninsula, rescue workers said. (AP Photo/Russian
Emergency Situations Ministry Press Service)
More than 26 fishing boats in the area helped to rescue the
crew members, emergency services said in a statement on their website. The
fishing boats also recovered 54 bodies.
No cause for the sinking was immediately given, but
investigators said the ship sank in just 15 minutes and may have collided with
drifting ice.
The Investigative Committee said in a statement that it is
considering all theories but it is likely that the trawler hit "an
object" floating in the sea.
The Russian Emergencies Ministry sent an Mi-8 helicopter
with rescuers and doctors aboard to deliver medical assistance and transport
rescued crew members to hospitals in the city of Magadan, the ministry said on
its website. It also set up a telephone hotline for families of the crew.
Oleg Kozhemyako, acting governor of the Sakhalin region,
told Russian television that rescuers spotted two life rafts, but had not yet
reached them to check if anybody was on board.
Among the 132 crew members, 78 are from Russia, 42 from
Myanmar and the rest from Latvia, Ukraine and Vanuatu.
Some 1,300 people were involved in the rescue operation,
emergency services said.
In this undated photo provided by Russian Emergency
Situations Ministry, a Russian trawler, the same type as Dalny Vostok, is seen
in an undisclosed location. The Russian freezer trawler Dalny Vostok with an
international crew of 132 sank Thursday morning, April 2, 2015, in the Sea of
Okhotsk off of the Kamchatka Peninsula, rescue workers said. (AP Photo/Russian
Emergency Situations Ministry Press Service)
Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk