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Be-200 plane, Novik tanker searching for missing bulk carrier in Sea of Okhotsk

So far, nothing is known about the nine crew members of the Amurskaya

VLADIVOSTOK, November 1 (Itar-Tass) —— An amphibious Be-200 airplane of the Russian emergencies ministry and the Novik tanker on Thursday will continue the search operation for the Amurskaya bulk carrier that went missing in the Sea of Okhotsk on Sunday, a spokesman for the Far Eastern emergencies centre told Itar-Tass.

So far, nothing is known about the nine crew members of the Amurskaya.

“Weather conditions were favourable enough today, so a Be-200 amphibious plane with rescuers onboard took off from Khabarovsk to join the search operation near the Shantar Islands,” the spokesman said. The Novik tanker is surveying the sea area

The sea near the island is still stormy, with waves reaching three meters in height. The trawler ships Ternei-1 and Captain Gams, which took part in the search operation, are currently hiding at a bay.

The all-weather rescue towboat Rubin left the port of Korsakov on the island of Sakhalin and no is on its way to the Shantar Islands in the southwest section of the Sea of Okhotsk to join the search. It is expected reach the area by the evening on November 3.

Aircrafts and ships have already surveyed an area of 4,000 square kilometers in the Sea of Okhotsk. Ground rescue teams have walked down 30 kilometers of the coastline in the Khabarovsk Territory.

So far, no tracers of the missing ship and its crew have been found.

The missing dry cargo ship was carrying 700 tons of gold-containing ore from the port township of Kiran in the Khabarovsk Territory to the port of Okhotsk. It left the Kiran port on Sunday, October 28.

According to the technical specifications of the Amurskaya, it has the weight-carrying capacity of 611 tons, which means it might be carrying an extra 89 tons of ore. Its length is 55 meters. The vessel was built in 1973.

It had a crew of 9 aboard. A majority of the seamen are residents of the Primorsky Territory.