The 18-member crew of the Sinegorye, sailing around 80 nautical miles off South Korea's east coast, sent out an SOS at 1:40 p.m. local time (6:40 a.m. Moscow time/2.40 a.m. GMT), before communications were lost, a spokesman for the regional rescue center in Russia's Pacific city of Vladivostok said.
On the captain's orders, part of the timber cargo was jettisoned to keep the vessel afloat, the spokesman said.
He said a Panamanian ship is likely to be the first to arrive at the scene at about 11 p.m. local time (4 p.m. Moscow time/noon GMT). An Israeli ship and a South Korean patrol boat are also approaching the area.
He added that strong winds are complicating the ships' movements.
"The movement of the foreign ships toward the Russian vessel is complicated by stormy weather," he said. "Wind speed around the Korean Peninsula's southern coast is 25 to 30 meters per second (56-67 mph), and wave height is about seven meters (23 feet)."
