PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKY, April 2. /TASS/. Nationals of four foreign states were among the crew of the Dalniy Vostok freezer trawler that sank in the Sea of Okhotsk off the Kamchatka peninsula in Russia’s Far East, the head of the sea rescue coordination centre at the Russian Federal Agency of Sea and River Fleet (RosMorRechFlot) has told TASS.

"According to early reports, there were 78 Russian nationals on board, as well as nationals of Myanmar, Ukraine, Lithuania, Vanuatu, 54 people supposedly," Artur Rets said.

A total of 132 people were reportedly on board. According to updated reports, 117 people out of 132 on board the Dalniy Vostok freezer trawler have been recovered from the sea, 54 of them dead.

As for reasons of the tragedy, Russia’s Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin said the trawler may have hit an obstacle. A source from the regional emergencies ministry earlier told TASS that drifting ice is likely to have torn a hole in the trawler.

Almost 1,500 people take part in a rescue operation at the site where a Russian trawler sank in the Sea of Okhotsk early on Thursday, a source from the Far Eastern regional center of the Russian Ministry for Emergency Situations has told TASS.

Twenty-six ships are engaged in search and rescue efforts, the source said.

Practically all who were rescued had suffered hypothermia in freezing water.

The trawler wrecked in the Sea of Okhotsk 330 kilometers west of Krutogorovsky settlement (Kamchatka region) and 250 kilometers south of the city of Magadan.