MOSCOW -- A Russian freezer trawler with an international crew of 132 sank this morning in the Sea of Okhotsk off the Kamchatka Peninsula. At least 43 crew members were killed, rescue workers said.
The emergency services agency in Kamchatka, citing the head of the rescue operation, said 63 crew members were rescued and the fate of the remaining 26 from the Dalny Vostok trawler was unknown.
More than 25 fishing boats helped rescue the crew members, the emergency services agency said in a statement on its website.
No cause for the sinking was given. The Interfax news agency said drifting ice in the chilly Pacific waters may have played a role.
The Russian Emergencies Ministry sent an Mi-8 helicopter with rescuers and doctors 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 crewmen, the ministry said.
Interfax said that in addition to Russia, the trawler had crew members from Latvia, Ukraine, Burma and Vanuatu.
A Section on 04/02/2015