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Two victims of sunk Ginga fishing boat are Sakhalin residents

Three dead bodies have been found and five people are missing

KHABAROVSK, December 27 (Itar-Tass) — The investigation bodies have held on Sakhalin the identification procedure of two of the three bodies of fishermen found in the area of the Ginga boat sunk in the La Perouse Strait.

“The two victims are residents of the Sakhalin region,” spokeswoman for the Far Eastern Transport Investigation Department of the Russian Investigative Committee (SK) Natalya Salkina reported on Tuesday.

The bodies of three dead fishermen on Tuesday morning were transported to the port of Korsakov on Sakhalin by the crew of the Atlas tugboat that took part in the search operation in the La Perouse Strait.

The crew of the Ginga boat consisted of eight people - five Russians and three Indonesians. Three dead bodies have been found and five people are missing.

“The basic version of the shipwreck, considered by the investigation bodies is violation of sea navigation rules by the boat’s captain. A set of measures aimed at establishing the circumstances of the death of seafarers are being taken during the probe,” the investigation department stressed. “A procedural decision will be made on the probe results.”

According to the Far East Regional Emergencies Centre, on Tuesday the search is conducted by the vessels passing through this area. Because of bad weather and severe storm conditions the rescuers have left the area, and the active phase of the search has been stopped.

According to earlier reports, the Ginga fishing boat, which sank in the La Perouse Strait on Sunday, was under repair in Nevelsk from February to August 2011.

When the vessel left the Sakhalin port, aboard was a crew of six Russian citizens. After the repair, the Ginga did not call at the island's main fishing harbour, the port captain service said. The search for the missing crewmembers has been unsuccessful on Monday, the service said.

On Sunday, three dead bodies in special non-sinking suits were found at the shipwreck site. Two of them were identified as Russian citizens -- a senior mechanic and a sailor.

Aboard the Ginga were five Russians and three Indonesians. The boat left the Japanese port of Wakkanai. The Indonesian fishermen could board the boat in the Japanese port or from other ships of the same company, to which the Ginga belonged, the Nevelsk port captain service said.

On December 25, early on Sunday morning Sakhalin time, an emergency radio beacon began to send signals from the Ginga. The ship was in distress at the border between the Russian and Japanese zones near Kamen Opasnosty (Danger Stone) Rock located 14 km southeast of Cape Crillon, the southernmost point of Sakhalin. Danger Stone, which is eight metres above the water surface, complicates shipping in the La Perouse Strait. In 1913, a lighthouse was built on the rock.

The search and rescue operation continued on Sunday in cooperation with the Japanese sea rescue coordination centre based in the city of Otaru, Hokkaido Island. A Japanese patrol vessel lifted aboard two dead bodies in thermosuits, one empty suit and an emergency beacon from the water. The crew of the Russian trawler Zaliv Vasilyeva recovered one dead body in a suit with the inscription “Izumrudny.”

The Russian rescue vessel Atlas, the trawlers Ozersk, Palia and Zaliv Vasilyeva and an EMERCOM Mi-8 helicopter participated in the operation. The Japanese participants were the patrol vessel and a plane. The Atlas, the ship Pacific Enterprise, the trawler Zaliv Vasilyeva and a Japanese coast guard ship continued the search on Monday.