MOSCOW, April 21. /ITAR-TASS/. Russia is ready to render aid to South Korean in rescue works on board the ferry that capsized in the Yellow Sea on Wednesday, April 16, Russia’s Emergency Situations Ministry has said.

“Emergencies Minister Vladimir Puchkov has presented condolences to the South Korean government,” the ministry’s spokesman, Aleksander Drobyshevsky told ITAR-TASS on Monday.

“The Russian ministry is ready to provide special rescue equipment and send trained divers,” he said.

“We support the population of the Republic of Korea and we are ready to render any assistance. We mourn jointly with families of missing ferry passengers. We hope that rescue detachments’ efforts will be successful,” Drobyshevsky said.

The 6,825-tonne ferry, which had sailed out of the western port of Incheon on Tuesday, April 15, ran into trouble some 20 kilometres (13 miles) off the island of Byungpoong and sank off the southern coast. The ferry carried 476 passengers with 64 declared dead and almost 200 missing.