Fishing Trawler Sinks After Catching Fire in Sea of Okhotsk - Maritime Authorities

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Earlier in the day, the agency reported the discovery of an object at a depth of about 100 feet in the Sea of Okhotsk that is "presumably" a sunken vessel. Another trawler was expected to arrive at the scene to confirm the information with its radar equipment.

The Enigma Astralis fishing trawler, which caught fire in mid-January and had been burning in the Sea of Okhotsk, has sunk, the Russian Federal Agency for Maritime and River Transportation (Rosmorrechflot) told Sputnik on Tuesday.

"The captain of Kalinovka trawler [rescue ship] confirmed the presence of an underwater object at these coordinates. The information was sent to the [agency's] headquarters ... so that it would make decisions on further search and rescue," the agency said, specifying that the object is the Enigma Astralis trawler.

The fishing trawler caught fire on 21 January in the Sea of Okhotsk near the Russian city of Magadan. The crew, consisting of 47 people, was evacuated. An icebreaker, dubbed the Siberian, set off to extinguish the fire on the trawler, which was carrying over 250 tonnes of fuel, but an open flame created an explosion hazard. On Monday, contact with the trawler was lost during a storm. A total of 11 ships were sent on the rescue mission.