No guilty person in Russian trawler tragedy ‘will come off unscathed’ — investigators

MOSCOW, April 6. /TASS/. The Investigative Committee plans to find all those guilty in the tragedy of the Dalny Vostok trawler that sank in the Sea of Okhotsk, off the Kamchatka Peninsula, last week, the IC official spokesman said on Monday.

"No guilty person will come off unscathed," Vladimir Markin said commenting in his Twitter microblog on the news that the head of the company-owner the sunken trawler has been put on the wanted list.

The director general of Magellan, Egor Gaschenku, who is reportedly now in the Republic of Korea, has been named as defendant. His deputy Alexander Kudritsky has been detained. The company’s assets have been seized.

"Investigators believe that the mentioned persons are far not the only ones against whom the criminal proceedings are to be launched in connection of the shipwreck and the death of people," Markin said.

Investigators will also check all those persons, including officials, who were responsible for monitoring the compliance with the safety rules and providing those onboard the vessel with rescue equipment, Markin said.

The trawler sank due to the loss of stability and the breach of safety rules, investigators say.

Markin earlier explained that no measures had been taken to increase the fuel reserve on the vessel and suspend fishing. "The trawler had no enough rescue equipment and the number of people onboard exceeded the maximum allowed," he said.

The Dalny Vostok freezer trawler with 132 people onboard wrecked in the Sea of Okhotsk, off the Kamchatka Peninsula, overnight to April 2. A total of 56 people died, 63 rescued and another 13 are considered as missing.