The
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
n-flagged
fishing trawler ''Dalniy Vostok'' (Russian: «Дальний Восток» ; "Far East") sank on 1 April 2015, off Russia's
Kamchatka Peninsula
The Kamchatka Peninsula (russian: полуостров Камчатка, Poluostrov Kamchatka, ) is a peninsula in the Russian Far East, with an area of about . The Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Okhotsk make up the peninsula's eastern and we ...
in the
Sea of Okhotsk
The Sea of Okhotsk ( rus, Охо́тское мо́ре, Ohótskoye móre ; ja, オホーツク海, Ohōtsuku-kai) is a marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean. It is located between Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula on the east, the Kuril Islands ...
. Fifty-seven of the ship's 132 crew members were confirmed dead, with rescue operations underway for survivors. The
freezer trawler sank 183 nautical miles (330 kilometers) west of Krutogorovsky, a settlement in Kamchatka's
Sobolevsky District
Sobolevsky District (russian: Со́болевский райо́н) is an administrativeLaw #46 and municipalLaw #224 district (raion) of Kamchatka Krai, Russia, one of the eleven in the krai. It is located in the southwest of the krai. The area ...
.
Sixty-three crew members were rescued by other fishing vessels, and 12 remain missing. Although recovery efforts continued on 3 April, the
TASS
The Russian News Agency TASS (russian: Информацио́нное аге́нтство Росси́и ТАСС, translit=Informatsionnoye agentstvo Rossii, or Information agency of Russia), abbreviated TASS (russian: ТАСС, label=none) ...
news agency reported that it was believed that the missing drowned in the
engine room, and that all survivors had been rescued.
["Search for Russian trawler's crew resumes; 56 dead, 13 still missing", Los Angeles Times](_blank)
Carol J. Williams, Retrieved 3 April 2015
Background
''Dalniy Vostok'', a , 5,700-ton trawler, was built in 1963 as a
whaling
Whaling is the process of hunting of whales for their usable products such as meat and blubber, which can be turned into a type of oil that became increasingly important in the Industrial Revolution.
It was practiced as an organized industry ...
factory ship, and had
international number IMO 8730429. The vessel was constructed as ''Stende'' (named for the city of
Stende
Stende (; german: Stenden) is a town in Latvia. History
The settlement was on the land of the manor Stende since the 14th century. The whole of it was owned originally by the lord of the manor Philipp von der Brüggen, to whom it was granted b ...
,
Latvia
Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...
) by the ship builders GP Chernomorskiy Sudostroitelnyy Zavod, Nikolayev, Soviet Union (now
Mykolaiv,
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
). She was classified under the (still in use) Soviet era general designation BATM (''Bolshoy Avtonomniy Trawler Morozilniy''
ig Autonomous Trawler Reefer, which covers freezer trawlers as well as certain other types of factory ship. Dalniy Vostok was one of the vessels harassed by anti-whaling
Greenpeace
Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network, founded in Canada in 1971 by Irving Stowe and Dorothy Stowe, immigrant environmental activists from the United States. Greenpeace states its goal is to "ensure the ability of the Earth t ...
activists in the north Pacific in 1975. The vessel operated in the
Canary Islands
The Canary Islands (; es, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to the African mainland, they are west of Morocc ...
until 2014, when she was purchased by the Russian company Magellan LLC. At the time of the accident, the vessel was sailing out of
Nevelsk
Nevelsk (russian: Не́вельск; ja, 本斗, ''Honto'') is a port town and the administrative center of Nevelsky District of Sakhalin Oblast, Russia, located on the southwest coast of the Sakhalin Island, from Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, the ad ...
, on the island of
Sakhalin
Sakhalin ( rus, Сахали́н, r=Sakhalín, p=səxɐˈlʲin; ja, 樺太 ''Karafuto''; zh, c=, p=Kùyèdǎo, s=库页岛, t=庫頁島; Manchu: ᠰᠠᡥᠠᠯᡳᠶᠠᠨ, ''Sahaliyan''; Orok: Бугата на̄, ''Bugata nā''; Nivkh: ...
. The ship was fishing off the western coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula, in the Sea of Okhotsk in the
Russian Far East
The Russian Far East (russian: Дальний Восток России, r=Dal'niy Vostok Rossii, p=ˈdalʲnʲɪj vɐˈstok rɐˈsʲiɪ) is a region in Northeast Asia. It is the easternmost part of Russia and the Asian continent; and is admini ...
.
At least 56 killed as Russian trawler sinks in icy seas
Lidia Kelly,
Reuters,
Retrieved 2 April 2015
There were 132 crew on board, from Russia,
Burma
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...
,
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
,
Latvia
Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...
and
Vanuatu
Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (french: link=no, République de Vanuatu; bi, Ripablik blong Vanuatu), is an island country located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of no ...
.
The ship had an estimated value of $30 million; retiring and replacing ''Dalniy Vostok'' prior to the accident would have cost approximately $40 million.
Sinking
On the morning of 1 April 2015, the engine room of ''Dalniy Vostok'' flooded, causing the vessel to quickly fill with sea water and sink within 15 minutes. Vladimir Markin, official press agent for the
Russian Investigative Committee said the most likely cause was a collision with ice, while Sergey Khabarov, emergencies commission chairman for the Kamchatka region blamed the 80-ton weight of the catch being hauled on board.
["54 dead after trawler sinks off Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula", CNN](_blank)
Ed Payne, Retrieved 2 April 2015
The ship sank so swiftly that the veteran captain, Aleksandr Pritotskiy,
did not have time to send a distress signal.
Most of the fatalities in the frigid water (as cold as 0°-5 °C/32°-41 °F) were caused by
hypothermia
Hypothermia is defined as a body core temperature below in humans. Symptoms depend on the temperature. In mild hypothermia, there is shivering and mental confusion. In moderate hypothermia, shivering stops and confusion increases. In severe h ...
, which also affected all the rescued crew.
["'Far East' sunk by greed and carelessness"](_blank)
Maria Pashenkova, Xenia Uglanov, Stanislav Mukhin, Anton Araslanov, Christina Oleinik, Paul Sviridov, retrieved 3 April 2015, Komsomol'skaja Pravda The ship's captain and its first officer were among those killed. Over two dozen fishing boats aided in the rescue, and the
Russian Emergencies Ministry dispatched an
Mi-8
The Mil Mi-8 (russian: Ми-8, NATO reporting name: Hip) is a medium twin-turbine helicopter, originally designed by the Soviet Union in the 1960s and introduced into the Soviet Air Force in 1968.
It is now produced by Russia.
In addition to ...
helicopter with a medical team and rescue crew.
Russian officials said over 1,300 people aided in the rescue effort.
Aftermath
The Sakhalin branch of the Far East transportation department has launched a criminal investigation for safety violations resulting in the death of two or more persons.
Those found guilty could face up to a seven-year sentence.
A full crew manifest has been published in the tabloid daily, ''
Komsomolskaya Pravda
''Komsomolskaya Pravda'' (russian: link=no, Комсомольская правда; lit. "Komsomol Truth") is a daily Russian tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper, founded on 13 March 1925.
History and profile
During the Soviet era, ...
''.
The daily reported several irregularities: that the boat was already "loaded to the eyeballs" with an unmanageable 1150 tons of
pollock; that the ship had an insufficient number of
lifeboats
Lifeboat may refer to:
Rescue vessels
* Lifeboat (shipboard), a small craft aboard a ship to allow for emergency escape
* Lifeboat (rescue), a boat designed for sea rescues
* Airborne lifeboat, an air-dropped boat used to save downed airmen
A ...
for the crew; that the ship had been certified as seaworthy, although the captain described it as a worn-out old wreck in constant need of urgent repair; and that the abnormally high number of foreign crew indicated they were underpaid illegal workers.
Reuters described the accident as "one of Russia's worst maritime disasters in decades", part of a "poor safety history" that included the death of 122 people in 2011 when the tourist boat sank on the
Volga River
The Volga (; russian: Во́лга, a=Ru-Волга.ogg, p=ˈvoɫɡə) is the List of rivers of Europe#Rivers of Europe by length, longest river in Europe. Situated in Russia, it flows through Central Russia to Southern Russia and into the Cas ...
, and the death of over 50 people on board when a drilling rig sank off Sakhalin in the same year.
President Putin had faced widespread criticism for his slow reaction to the
sinking of the submarine ''Kursk'' in 2000, which killed the entire crew of 118.
''Komsomolskaya Pravda'' quoted expert sources as saying unanimously that while the crew will inevitably be blamed, the real problem is the system.
Magellan LLC has announced it is conducting an internal audit. The government announced that the families of the dead will receive one million
rubles from state agencies.
Reactions
After the sinking, many governments expressed shock and sympathy, and conveyed their nations condolences over the large number of lives lost. Among them:
* : Russian President
Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...
expressed "deep condolences to the families and those close to those killed".
* : Armenian President
Serzh Sargsyan
Serzh Azati Sargsyan ( hy, Սերժ Ազատի Սարգսյան, ; born 30 June 1954)[Of ...](_blank)
sent his condolences to Russian President Vladimir Putin over the loss of life in Russian territorial waters related to this accident.
* : Chinese President
Xi Jinping
Xi Jinping ( ; ; ; born 15 June 1953) is a Chinese politician who has served as the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), and thus as the paramount leader of China, s ...
"offered his deep condolences to all victims aboard the fishing freezer trawler that sank off Russia's Kamchatka peninsula, and showed sincere sympathies to the relatives of the victims".
* : Kazakhstan President
Nursultan Nazarbayev "personally and on behalf of all the Kazakhstanis expressed condolence to the families of the deceased and wished the soonest recovery to the injured."
* : The
United States embassy in Moscow
The Embassy of the United States of America in Moscow is the diplomatic mission of the United States of America in the Russian Federation. The current embassy compound is in the Presnensky District of Moscow, across the street from the White House ...
said in a statement: "It is terrible to see how many human lives this tragedy has taken".
[
* : Seychelles President ]James Michel
James Alix Michel, GCSK (born August 16, 1944) is a Seychellois politician and the former President of Seychelles from year 2004 to 2016. He previously served as Vice-President under his predecessor, France-Albert René, from 1996 to 2004.
Mi ...
expressed the condolences of the people of Seychelles
Seychelles (, ; ), officially the Republic of Seychelles (french: link=no, République des Seychelles; Creole: ''La Repiblik Sesel''), is an archipelagic state consisting of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean. Its capital and largest city, V ...
, remarking in a statement: "The government and people of Seychelles join me in expressing our heartfelt sympathies and deepest condolences to the people of Russia and the families of the victims following this tragic loss of human life".
* : Myanmar (Burmese) authorities stated that it was extremely unlikely that the Myanmar nationals (who made up almost a third of the crew) were legally employed by Magellan LLC. U Kyaw Htin Kway, general secretary of the Myanmar Overseas Employment Agency Federation, said "Myanmar does not send workers to fishing boats. If they are illegal then they won’t get insurance or compensation. It is a problem". Two of the recruitment agencies responsible for sending seamen aboard the admitted they falsifying workers' registration cards.
See also
* List of shipwrecks
This is an index of lists of shipwrecks, sorted by different criteria.
By location
* List of shipwrecks of Africa
* List of shipwrecks of Asia
* List of shipwrecks of Europe
** List of shipwrecks of France
** List of shipwrecks of the Unit ...
* List of shipwrecks in 2015
The list of shipwrecks in 2015 includes ships sunk, foundered, grounded, or otherwise lost during 2015.
January
1 January
2 January
3 January
4 January
5 January
7 January
8 January
9 January
13 January
...
Notes
References
External links
"Pulkovskiy Meridian" type fishing freezer trawler project 1288
- ''Fishing Fleet of Communist and Post-Communist Countries'' website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dalniy Vostok
2015 disasters in Russia
Factory ships
Whaling ships
Maritime incidents in 2015
Maritime incidents in Russia
Disasters in the Russian Far East
Shipwrecks in the Sea of Okhotsk
Shipwrecks of Russia
April 2015 events in Russia