MOSCOW, December 5 (Sputnik) — The bodies of seven fishermen from the sunken South Korean trawler Oryong 501 were recovered Friday in the ongoing search operation by Russian vessels, with 26 people still listed as missing, Russian news agency RIA Novosti reports.
“On Friday seven bodies were found; two of them have been identified. Since the beginning of the operation 34 people have been lifted out of the water, seven of them survivors. The total death toll has now risen to 27. Another 26 remain listed as missing,” Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky Rosrechmorflot Search and Rescue Administration head Artur Retz told the news agency. The Oryong 501 fishing vessel sank Monday in the Bering Sea, about 100 nautical miles off Chukotka’s Navarin Cape, south of Anadyr Bay. Since then Russian fishing vessels and coast guard helicopters from Russia and the United States in the area have been coordinating a search and rescue operation, which was hampered on Wednesday by rough weather.
The Oryong’s crew of 60 people consisted mainly Indonesians, Filipinos and South Koreans. Seven people, including a Russian national, were rescued. The 40-year-old, 1,753 ton vessel was registered in the South Korean city of Busan, and owned by Sajo Industries.
Preliminary reports indicate that the trawler may have been sunk by waves amidst stormy weather, which flooded its storage areas.
