12 November 2007, 21:12
Life-guards continue search for seamen from "Nakhichevan" dry cargo ship in Krasnodar krai
Search is under way in the Kerch Strait, Krasnodar krai, for the crew members of the "Nakhichevan" dry cargo ship which sank in the Azov Sea on November 11.
Three have been rescued, the fate of eight more people remains unknown, reports the South-Russia press-service of the Russian Ministry of Emergencies to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.
"The border guards have found three bodies on the sea shore in the vicinity of the Tuzla foreland. All the three were wearing life vests. These may be from the "Nakhichevan" dry cargo ship", says our interlocutor. The identities of the deceased are being clarified.
The "Caucasian Knot" reported earlier that, on November 11, six Russian sea vessels crashed in Kerch Strait, Krasnodar krai in the storm (two dry cargo ships with sulfur load sank, a tanker cracked, and a non-self-propelled barge and a sea floating crane stuck in low water).
More than one thousand tons of fuel oil spilt into the Kerch Strait near the Azov Sea shore as a result of the crash of the "Volgoneft-139" tanker. Ecologists consider the incident "one of the biggest environmental disasters in Russia during the recent years".
According to ecologists, liquidation of the oil spill may require more than one year and several million dollars.
Author: Oksana Levitskaya, CK correspondent