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Injured captain of disabled Russian container ship operated in Canada

Other crew members are on the board and feel OK

OTTAWA, October 18. /TASS/. Captain of the Russian container ship Simushir, which lost power off the western shores of Canada’s British Columbia, was operated on in a Vancouver hospital, the financial director of Russia’s Sakhalin Shipping Company, the owners of the vessel, told Tass on Saturday.

“Captain Dmitry Chernysh injured his face and arm while on the bridge during the storm,” Aleksandr Averyanov said. “He was evacuated by helicopter of Canada’s border guard service and delivered to a hospital in the city of Vancouver where he underwent an operation on his face and his arm was given care, too. Now he has been discharged from hospital and is in a hotel.”

“Other crew members are on the board and feel OK,” he said. “On Tuesday another captain will fly from Sakhalin to replace injured Chernysh.”

Averyanov said that the Simushir had lost power due to an unspecified failure of the engine and was towed to the Canadian Port of Prince Rupert.

The Simushir lost power and began drifting overnight to Friday off the island of Haida Gwaii.

The Canadian military said that if the vessel carrying 400 tonnes of bunker oil and 50 tonnes of diesel ran aground and hit the rocks, it could cause a spill and ecological disaster.

The Simushir made its way from the U.S. port of Everett in the Washington state to Russia. The vessel built in 1998 is registered in Russia and owned by the Sakhalin Shipping Company.

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