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54 Dead in Russian Trawler Sinking

At least 54 sailors have died and 15 others are still missing after a trawler with 132 people on board sank in the Sea of Okhotsk in Russia's Far East.

'We have recovered the bodies of 54 victims. Sixty-three crew members have been rescued alive,' Russian news agency Tass reported, saying that 15 sailors were still missing.

The Dalny Vostok sank off the coast of Kamchatka, 250 kilometres south of Magadan, the main town in the sparsely populated region in Russia's Far East.

An officer from the local maritime rescue coordination centre told TASS that 78 Russians were on board the vessel and at least 40 people from Myanmar, as well as other nationals from Ukraine, Lithuania and Vanuatu.

The Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations did not respond when contacted by AFP.

More than 25 fishing boats in the area helped to rescue the crew members, the emergency services said in a statement on their website.

No cause for the sinking was given. The Interfax news agency said drifting ice in the chilly Pacific waters may have played a role.

The trawler, a 5,700-tonne, 104-metre long factory ship designed for carrying several dozen sailors on fishing trips over several months.

The vessel was operated by Magellan, a company based in Nevelsk, a port city on the island of Sakhalin in the Russian Far East.

'According to initial information, 40 injured people will be evacuated to a hospital by helicopter,' Magadan district press office said in a statement, adding that they had not taken part in the rescue operations due to the remoteness of the trawler at the time of its sinking.

'A total of 800 people participated in search and rescue operations,' the statement said, adding that 26 fishing vessels were involved in rescuing survivors.

Many fishing vessels trawl the fish-rich seas of the Russian Far East.

Last December, the sinking of a South Korean fishing boat in the Bering Sea, between the eastern coast of Russia and Alaska, left 27 dead and 26 missing.


Source: http://www.skynews.com.au/news/top-stories/2015/04/02/54-dead-in-russian-trawler-sinking.html