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Two Captain Kuznetsov crewmen get light injuries

The absence of communication with the ship was caused by the fact that the waves damaged the deck house in the storm

ARKHANGELSK, November 17 (Itar-Tass) —— Two crewmen from the Captain Kuznetsov dry cargo ship, which was found in the White Sea, got light injuries, a source in the Arkhangelsk regional emergency department told Itar-Tass on Thursday.

“Two crewmen from 11 sailors got light injuries,” the source said.

“The absence of communication with the ship was caused by the fact that the waves damaged the deck house in the storm. All radio equipment was located in the deck house. The investigators will find why the Captain Kuznetsov dry cargo ship set out in the sea with a unfavourable weather forecast,” the source said.

The Dixon icebreaker will tow the Captain Kuznetsov dry cargo ship to the port of Arkhangelsk at about 8 p.m. Moscow time.

Meanwhile, detectives and criminal experts keep working at the port. The North-Western transport investigation department of the Investigative Committee opened a criminal case over a long absence of 11 Captain Kuznetsov crewmen under Article 263 of the Criminal Code for violation of the sailing safety rules and the operation of the ship.

The dry cargo ship was reported missing in the White Sea overnight to Tuesday on the way from the port Yara-Yakha in the Yamal-Nenets autonomous area to Arkhangelsk, where she was sailing for a winter anchorage. In the bottleneck of the White Sea the dry cargo ship was stricken in a strong storm and the last communication session with the ship was at 2 a.m. Moscow time on Tuesday. The emergency beacon went off near the Kanin Nos Cape in the White Sea. Amid the storm a search-and-rescue operation involving ships and aviation was conducted.

The Il-38 airplane of the sea aviation of the Northern Fleet has spotted the missing dry cargo ship at 11.15 a.m. Moscow time on Wednesday. The ship was stricken in the bottleneck of the White Sea, 60 kilometers east of the Orlov-Tersky Tonkiy Cape and 104 kilometers away from the place of the last communication session. Arkhangelsk rescuers succeeded to get onboard the Captain Kuznetsov from a Mi-8 helicopter. All crewmen were found alive. The crew managed to activate the engines and the ship went off the shallow waters herself.

The river-sea dry cargo ship (the motor ship for the type of engine) Captain Kuznetsov, which is registered in St. Petersburg, belongs to the North-Western shipping company. The ship was built in 1984, is 86.7 meters long, 12 meters wide and has a water displacement of 1,450 tonnes.