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Russian embassy thanks Estonia for rescuing sailors from distressed trawler

Earlier, the Russian Embassy in Estonia reported that five sailors from the vessel, including the captain, were airlifted by a helicopter to Tallinn, and two others were taken to Finland

© Valery Sharifulin/TASS

TALLINN, February 20. /TASS/. Russia’s Embassy in Estonia has expressed gratitude to the country’s services that rescued Russian sailors from a shipwrecked trawler near the republic’s coast.

Overnight to February 7, the Pongoma fishing vessel with seven Russian crew members onboard sank off Estonia’s coast. The country’s police and border guards received the distress signal at 23:40 local time on February 6, some 15 nautical miles to the north of the Juminda Peninsula. The rescue operation was carried out jointly with Finland and nearby vessels were notified about the trawler in distress.

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Russian trawler sinks off Estonian coast, crew rescued — media

Russian Ambassador to Estonia Alexander Petrov sent a letter to Estonia’s Minister of the Interior Mart Helme, conveying "the words of deep gratitude for skills and highly professional activities in a situation, when a human life was at stake," a local ERR news portal reported.

The Russian diplomat stressed that all crew members, who were taken to Tallinn, received medical assistance. In its turn, the republic’s police department and border guards helped to issue documents to enable the sailors to return to St. Petersburg.

The ambassador has described this rescue effort as an example of mutual assistance. "I wish that such examples would characterize relations between our people in the future," he noted.

Earlier, the Russian Embassy in Estonia reported that five sailors from the vessel, including the captain, were airlifted by a helicopter to Tallinn, and two others were taken to Finland. The crew members received all the necessary medical assistance in Tallinn. Those sailors, who were hospitalized in Helsinki’s Meilahti hospital, were in satisfactory condition.

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