The Russian fishing 'Dalni Vostok', which sank with 132 people on board (Robbie Shaw / www.shipspotting.com / Playback)
(Updated to 10h59)
At least 56 people died in the sinking of a fishing boat with 132 people on board on Thursday in the Sea of Okhotsk in the Russian Far East, probably by a collision. The wreck, the deadliest of a fishing in Russian waters in recent years, for reasons still unknown, led to the organization of a massive rescue operation. The mission in the icy waters of the region with the presence of 1,300 people, 26 ships and a helicopter and for rescuing 63 people, officials said. The searches cover an area of 8,500 km2.
Of the 132 people on board the ship, thirteen are still missing, more than 13 hours after the Dalny Vostok wreck, which happened just before 6:30 am (17:30 Brasilia, Wednesday) on the back of the Kamchatka peninsula. The water temperature, close to zero degree, and the night in the region leave little hope of finding more survivors. The Dalny Vostok was an industrial fishery of 5,700 tonnes and 104 meters designed to stay at sea for several months. The boat belonged to Magellan LLC company, based in Nevelsk, port of Sakhalin Island.
According to the researchers, on board were 78 Russian citizens, 42 Burmese, five men of Vanuatu, three from Latvia and four Ukrainians. But officials did not disclose the nationalities of the victims. Investigators seized the documentation of the fishery owners and began to hear several people in Nevelsk port and Vladivostok, where the Dalny Vostok sailed on January 3. The authorities favor the hypothesis of a collision, probably with an object that damaged the hull navo near the engine room.
Tatiana Yujmanova, ministry spokesman Emergency Situations on the Kamchatka region, said that work should continue at night with the help of light projectors. "Nine people are in serious condition, some unconscious and others in state shock," said the spokesman, who cited several cases of hypothermia caused by water temperature. People in critical condition will be taken to Magadan, 250 km from the wreck site and main city of this isolated region of the Russian Far East.
So far, authorities have not released information on the nationality of the dead. The bodies should arrive in three days at the port of Korsakov on the island of Sakhalin. But some sources confirmed that among the victims are the captain and his deputy. In December last year, the sinking of a fishing in the Bering Sea between Russia and Alaska, left 27 dead and 26 missing.
(From the Newsroom)
