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Rescue boat from wrecked Kolskaya oilrig found in middle of Sea of Okhotsk

The boat is damaged partially and it is impossible to pick it up from the water

VLADIVOSTOK, January 1 (Itar-Tass) —— A rescue boat from the wrecked Kolskaya oilrig has been found in the middle of the Sea of Okhotsk by the Alexander Belyakov trawler of the Nakhodka sea fishing company.

“There was no one onboard the rescue boat,” the Russian State Maritime Rescue Center told Itar-Tass on Sunday. The boat is damaged partially and it is impossible to pick it up from the water.

The Kolskaya oilrig sank on December 18, 200 kilometers away from the shore, while being towed in the Sea of Okhotsk. The Magadan icebreaker and the Neftegaz 55 towboat were towing the oilrig from the Kamchatsky Peninsula to the Sakhalin Island.

The regional emergency situations ministry said that 36 out of 67 people onboard the Kolskaya oilrig were from the Murmansk region. Fourteen people were rescued, and 14 bodies were found, including eleven taken aboard by the SMIT Sakhalin ship.

The Murmansk company Arktikmorneftegazrazvedka, the owner of the Kolskaya oilrig that wrecked in the Sea of Okhotsk, opened a bank account for helping the wreck survivors in the end of December.

The company will give material aid to the survivors and the families of the dead, Acting General Director Yuri Melekhov said. Some 3 million rubles will be paid to every family, which has lost the breadwinner. “Probably, the sum will be larger. Besides, all the workers were insured by Sogaz,” he said.

The company rented a hotel in Sakhalin for the oilrig crewmembers and families of the victims. “The company covers the traveling and accommodation expenditures,” Melekhov said.

Arktikmorneftegazrazvedka opened a psychological aid station staffed with specialists from the regional emergency situations ministry and the northwestern regional center of the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry. They are helping the families and friends of the victims.

The Murmansk governor said that the regional authorities would give assistance to the sailors’ families.

A criminal case was opened over the wreck on the charges of a breach of sea transport rules causing death of two or more people by negligence.

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FACTBOX: Collective Security Treaty Organization

The Collective Security Treaty came into force on April 20, 1994 to herald the emergence what would eventually become the Collective Security Treaty Organization. The six member-countries are Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan