Dozens dead as Russian fishing trawler sinks

MOSCOW -- A Russian fishing trawler with an international crew of 132 sank Thursday morning in the Sea of Okhotsk off the Kamchatka Peninsula in the western Pacific Ocean, and at least 54 crew members were killed, rescue workers said.

Emergency services in Kamchatka, citing the head of the rescue operation, said 63 crew members were rescued.

The fate of the remaining 15 from the Dalny Vostok trawler was unknown, but the Reuters news agency quotes Viktor Klepikov, coordinating captain of the Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky Maritime Rescue

Coordination Center as saying, "The rescue operation is going on. We are still looking for 15 people."

He told Reuters water temperatures in the region are about 32 degrees -- freezing.

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More than 25 fishing boats in the area helped to rescue the crew members, emergency services said in a statement on their website.

No cause for the sinking was given, but the Interfax news agency said drifting ice in the chilly Pacific waters may have played a role, damaging the ship's hull.

Reuters says Russia's TASS news agency cited an official of the Kamchatka region as saying the crew might have broken safety rules by exceeding the ship's cargo storage capacity.

Rescue workers were able to lift 63 crew members and 54 bodies aboard fishing boats, the news agency said.

The trawler sent no distress signals prior to sinking, which happened within 15 minutes, Interfax said.

The Russian Emergencies Ministry sent an Mi-8 helicopter with rescuers and doctors aboard to deliver medical assistance and transport rescued crew members to hospitals in the city of Magadan, the ministry said on its website. It also set up a telephone hotline for families of the crew, the ministry said.

Among the 132 crew members, 78 are from Russia, 42 from Myanmar and the rest from Latvia, Ukraine and Vanuatu.

The search and rescue operation involved 1,300 people and 29 units of equipment, emergency services said.