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Search continues in Ginga ship sinking area in La Perouse Strait

The Ginga ship was carrying five Russians and three Indonesians

VLADIVOSTOK, December 26 (Itar-Tass) —— The search operation continued with the dawn on Monday in the area, where the Ginga ship sank in the La Perouse Strait on Sunday. The search operation includes three Russian ships headed by the Atlas rescue ship of the Sakhalin rescue department. A Mi-8 helicopter is expected to join the search on Monday afternoon, the Vladivostok maritime rescue coordination centre reported.

The Ginga ship was carrying five Russians and three Indonesians. On Sunday, three people were found dead, including two of them were identified as Russian citizens and another one could not be identified.

It was found that the ship was en route from the Japanese port Wakkanai, Hokkaido Island, under the flag of Cambodia. In the early morning on December 25 Sakhalin time the emergency radio beacon set off onboard the Ginga. The ship was in distress on the border of the zones of responsibility of Russia and Japan in the vicinity of the Stone of Danger rock, which is situated 14 kilometres southeast of the Krilion Cape, the southernmost end of Sakhalin. The Stone of Danger rock is eight metres high above the sea level and hampers strongly the navigation across the La Perouse Strait. The lighthouse was built on the rock in 1913.

The search operation lasted all Sunday in cooperation with the Japanese maritime rescue coordination centre, which is situated in the city Otaru on the Hokkaido Island. The Japanese patrol boat lifted from the water two dead sailors in the water suits, one empty water suit and an emergency beacon in the noon on Sunday. The Russian trawler Zaliv Vasilyeva lifted from the water one dead sailor in the water suit with the inscription Izumrudny. Russia engaged the Atlas rescue ship, the trawlers Ozersk, Palia, Zaliv Vasilyeva and an emergency helicopter Mi-8 in the search operation. Japan involved the patrol boat Rebun and an airplane in the search.