As many as 10 people drowned after a Russian border patrol vessel capsized off the coast of Kunashir, a Russia—controlled island north of Japan, officials confirmed on Saturday.
Russian officials say that four Coast Guard officers died and six others are missing after their boat overturned in rough seas near Japan.
The 10 passengers, among them members of Russia’s Federal Security Service — responsible for the country’s border control — and several maritime experts, were on their way to a larger ship off the coast of Japan when a wave caused the vessel to capsize.
The Investigative Committee, the nation's main investigative agency, said the incident happened Saturday when a group of Coast Guard officers went to inspect a fishing vessel detained in the Yuzhno-Kurilskaya Bay off Kunashir Island on allegations of poaching in Russia's territorial waters.
Officials say the Coast Guard boat overturned in stormy weather. Rescuers have found the bodies of four victims, and a search was underway for the missing.
The remaining six passengers are very unlikely to have survived the icy water temperatures, officials said.
Kunashir, just off the northeastern tip of Japan's Hokkaido Island, is one of the four islands controlled by Russia since WW II but claimed by Japan.
Saturday 25 January 2014
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/russian-coast-guards-die-boat-wreck-21788199
http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/world/ten-drown-in-russian-border-patrol-boat-capsize/article5617579.ece
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