Russian ship missing in Okhotsk Sea

MOSCOW - A cargo ship with 11 crew on board went missing on Sunday in Russia's Far East in stormy conditions that were making rescue operations difficult, an emergency ministry spokesman said.

The Amurskoye was travelling to the Shantar Islands in the icy Okhotsk Sea, which lies east of Russia's Khabarovsk region and north of Japan's Hokkaido Island.

The Khabarovsk emergency ministry received a signal for help at around 14:50 pm (0350 GMT), Yelena Yeremenko, the ministry's spokesman, told AFP.

The dry cargo ship had 11 crew members on board. "Right now the weather conditions are bad, and small boats cannot work in the area," she said.

"A tanker is searching for the boat but visibility was too poor for helicopters to be used," she added. Life News website said the ship was carrying ore.

The Okhotsk Sea is extremely cold during the winter months and last December only 14 people were rescued, out of a total of 67 workers on an oil platform, which capsized during a storm. The rest either died from exposure or were never found.

Source: AFP via I-NET Bridge