MOSCOW, January 26 (RIA Novosti) – A Russian border guard boat capsized this weekend in the choppy waters by the disputed Kuril Islands, all 10 people aboard believed dead.
Only five bodies were recovered as of Sunday afternoon, the Federal Security Service (FSB), which controls the border guard service, said in a statement.
At the time of the incident, the boat was heading to inspect an alleged poaching vessel sailing under Sierra Leone flag anchored near the town of Yuzhno-Kurilsk on Kunashir Island.
The boat was apparently capsized by a gust of wind, local news website Skr.ru said.
The incident happened after sunset on Friday a mere 600 meters from the shore, the FSB said.
A search operation was ongoing, but all 10 people on board are presumed dead, authorities said.
“They lived in the sea and they stayed in the sea,” a victims’ colleague was cited as saying by Gazeta.ru news website.
The four southernmost islands in the Kurils chain, including Kunashir, which is only 33 kilometers north of the Japanese Hokkaido island, were annexed by the Soviet Union in 1945, but official Tokyo disputes Russia’s claim to these territories.
