MOSCOW, January 27 (Itar-Tass) – Aircraft of the Russian emergencies ministry will join the search operation for the crew from the Shans-101 fishing boat that sank in the Sea of Japan off the coast of Russia’s Far Eastern Primorsky Territory on Sunday, a spokesman for the Far Eastern emergencies administration told Itar-Tass.
According to earlier reports, ten crewmembers of the ill-fortune boat were saved, the fate of twenty others is unknown.
The boat Shans-101 was found overturned in the Sea of Japan some 50 kilometers east of the settlement of Svetlaya in the Primorsky Territory at 15:20 Moscow time. The boat’s home port is Nakhodka. Its crew included 30 seamen – 19 Russians and 11 Indonesians. At 15:40 Moscow time, the Anatoly Torchinov ship found a life raft from the Shans boat with ten crew members, including six Russians and four Indonesian.
Four ships are involved in the rescue operation. The Atlas rescue boat sailed off from the port of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. Apart from that, it is planned to involve a Mi-8 helicopter and a Be-200 plane on Monday, January 28.
According to the regional emergencies department, the Shans-101 boat failed to respond to radio communication at a designated time. “No SOS signals came from the boat, its emergency buoy was silent,” the regional emergencies department said. “At a request from the boat owner, and An-24 plane of the Far Eastern rescue centre was sent to the area. It surveyed an area of 2,600 square nautical miles.”
Two ships catching fish in this area joined the rescue operation. They searched an area of 280 square nautical miles. Later, three more fishing boats joined the search.
At 22:30 local time, the captain of the Talan fishing boat reported to the Vladivostok rescue centre that the crew had spotted an overturned vessel. “Twenty minutes later, the Anatoly Torchinov dry cargo ship found a life raft with ten people. They were taken aboard the ship, which is heading for the port of Kholmsk in the Sakhalin region,” the regional emergencies department said.