Cargo carrier Amurskoe disappeared in the Sea
of Okhotsk while carrying 700 tons
of gold ore.
Three ships, an amphibious aircraft and a helicopter are
undertaking search and rescue operations to find the eight crewmembers of the
lost vessel.
A sonar distress beacon was automatically activated near Feklistov
Island in the Shantarsk Archipelago
on Sunday, Russia’s
Emergency Ministry reported.
The tanker Novik was the first to arrive at the scene, but
found no wreckage or survivors. The rescue operation was complicated by severe
weather, and waves up to four meters high.
A specially equipped Be-200 amphibious aircraft was
dispatched from the city of Khabarovsk
in Russia’s Far
East region to join the operation, but the rescue plane found no
trace of the Amurskoe.
By nightfall, the aircraft was forced to return home. The
severe weather prevented smaller planes from joining the rescue mission.
The operation continued on Monday morning, with a Mi-8
helicopter and two trawler ships joining the search.
The Amurskoe departed the village
of Neran in Russia’s
Far East Khabarovsk territory, and was headed toward the port
of Okhotsk in the Sea
of Okhotsk. After leaving the delta
of the Kiran River,
the vessel entered the Sea of Okhotsk
and sent out a distress signal soon after.
The Amurskoe was built in 1973 in the port of
Nikolaevsk-na-Amure. Over the last year, it mainly operated in Russia’s
Far East and around Sakhalin
Island, and also reportedly made
sporadic trips to China.
The vessel was grounded on the bottom of an estuary of the Amur
River last year, but was later rescued.
Little hope remains that the Amurskoe's distress beacon was
somehow washed overboard and activated, and that the ship is still traveling
towards its destination.
The Sea of Okhotsk
is situated in the northwestern Pacific – between Russia’s
Kamchatka Peninsula
and the Kuril Islands to the east, the large island
of Sakhalin and the eastern coast
of Siberia to the west and north, and the Japanese island
of Hokkaido to the south.
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