At least 56 people have died with 13 still missing after a Russian freezer trawler carrying a crew of 132 sank off the Kamchatka Peninsula in the Western Pacific on Wednesday, Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations reports.
Search and rescue crews initially managed to recover bodies of 54 crewmembers, with two more bodies recovered from the freezing Sea of Ohotsk in the afternoon hours of Thursday.
A local maritime rescue center reported that 63 people aboard the Dalniy Vostok at the time of the accident were rescued from the freezing water, many suffering from hypothermia.
The vessel Andromeda was assigned to transport 58 survivors as well as the bodies of 53 deceased crewmembers to the Port of Korsakov, near the city of Magadan, where the medical crews waited. 3 rescued crewmembers were transported to Magadan by a helicopter.
Viktor Klepikov, coordinating captain of the Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky maritime rescue coordination center, told Reuters that the rescue crews are still searching for the 13 people missing, adding that the cause of the accident is still undetermined.
Russia’s TASS news agency reported that the possible reason for the accident might have been the overcapacitated cargo holds.
Another cause might have been the drifting ice which could have damaged the vessel’s hull, causing it to sink in 15 minutes.
The trawler sank in the Sea of Ohotsk, 155 miles off the city of Magadan, carrying 78 Russian nationals and 54 foreign nationals from Lithuania, Myanmar, Vanuatu and Ukraine.
2,100 people aboard 90 different craft (including 27 ships and a helicopter) are currently searching for the missing.
World Maritime News Staff: Image: Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations