Several news agencies are reporting that more than 600 crewmembers are aboard ten vessels trapped in the ice in the Sea of Okhotsk.
More than 600 people aboard ice-trapped vessels in Sea of Okhotsk
Distress signals have been received from the Sodruzhestvo fishing mother ship and the Professor Kizevetter scientific research vessel. All their attempts to get to the clear water have failed, the state sea rescue coordination centre reported.
The grey-white ice is up to 30 centimetres thick. A distress stage and the rescue operation beginning have been declared in the region. The sea rescue tugboats Irbis, Predanny and Rubin have left for the area to evacuate people. One of them is expected to approach the edge of the ice on Friday evening. The rest are expected to come there on January 2.
According to the Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk sea rescue coordination centre (the coordinator of the rescue operation), the Sodruzhestvo, the Bereg Nadezhdy transport refrigerator and the Professor Kizevetter scientific research vessel (all are from the port of Vladivostok) are in the worst situation. They are blocked in the ice 11-12 miles away from the mainland coast. In the sea ice trap are also the fishing and transport ships Tumnin, Ostrov Karaginsky, Amursky Liman, Komsomolets Kaliningrada, Pamyat Kirova, Gennady Volodarsky and Alexander Belyakov. They are from the ports of Nakhodka, Vladivostok, Sovgavan, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, St. Petersburg and Murmansk.
Thanks to Miroslav Antic for passing the news along.
Hopefully they can keep their energy generators running, a ship without propulsion and without energy in such a harsh environment is difficult to survive on.
This is Fukujin Kisen Company in Japan. Our one product tanker intends to call your place about 4 days later. In this regard, we would like to get ice condition on her tanker berth.
Your kind information with explanation by some photos would be much highly appreciated.
Have a good day!