SIMFEROPOL, January 24. /TASS/. The sailors from the tankers that are burning in the Black Sea in the Kerch Strait area are staying in the Kerch hospital, and their state does not give rise to concerns, deputy head of the city administration Dilyaver Melgaziyev told TASS.
"The sailors are staying in the hospital. No one has been released yet. Their health did not deteriorate," he said.
Crimean Commissioner for Human Rights Lyudmila Lubina told TASS that 12 sailors - eight of them are Turkish citizens and four are Indian citizens - are in satisfactory condition, and nothing is threatening their lives. "Some are having lung inflammation, some are having cold, because staying in the water at a temperature of 5 degrees cannot pass without effects. One of the captains is having a hypertensic crisis," she said.
A fire broke out on board the tankers Maestro and Candy, which are operated by a Turkish company, on January 21 in the Kerch Strait area beyond Russia’s territorial waters. The emergency occurred 15 miles south of Cape Takil in the Black Sea neutral waters, outside the Kerch Strait, the Federal Agency for Maritime and River Transport reported. The vessels are currently not far from the entry to the Kerch Strait, just about 65 km away.
According to preliminary information, the incident occurred during fuel loading from one vessel to the other. There were 17 people on board the Candy, nine of them Turkish citizens and eight Indian citizens. There were 15 citizens onboard the Maestro, including Turkish and Indian citizens. Twelve people were rescued, 10 bodies were recovered, and a search operation for 10 more sailors continues.