YUZHNO-SAKHALINSK, September 24. /TASS/. Three hundred and sixty-three crew members have been evacuated from the Pyotr Zhitnikov depot ship near Iturup due to a fire that had sparked there, the press service of the Federal Agency for Marine and River Transport told TASS on Tuesday.

"Three hundred and sixty-three people have been evacuated; 56 people - the repair party - remain on board and continue to fight the fire. The fire continues," the press service specified.

The Federal Agency for Marine and River Transport specified that 173 people were evacuated in a fishing boat and taken to the Vsevolod Sibirtsev depot ship, and 42 people were taken to the Zaliv Vostok depot ship. In addition, 148 people are staying onboard the Yupiter fishing boat.

The fire on the depot ship started on Monday. There were about 400 people on board.

The Pyotr Zhitnikov depot ship was built in 1989. It is one of the largest depot ships; the second depot ship of the same Sodruzhestvo class belongs to Dobroflot. It is designed for receiving crabs and raw fish from catching vessels; their processing as cans, preserves, frozen products, fish flour, crab meal and oil; and for supplying catching vessels and their service. The Russian-flagged vessel has gross registered tonnage of 32,960 tonnes and deadweight of 10,700 tonnes. It is 179.03 meters long and 28 meters wide.