4 more bodies found in trawler disaster

The bodies of two Korean and two Southeast Asian sailors who were aboard the trawler Oryong 501 were found in the western Bering Sea on Thursday.

The trawler owned by Sajo Industries and carrying 60 people sank on Monday while fishing for Alaska pollack.

Twenty bodies have now been found, including six Koreans, 12 Southeast Asians, and two unidentified bodies. Thirty-three remain missing.

Rescuers searching for survivors of a shipwreck off Russia's Pacific coast had previously discovered four empty inflatable life-rafts in the area where the tragedy took place.

Seven people were rescued after the craft was swamped by a large wave as the crew hauled in its catch on Monday, one of whom later died of hypothermia. The rest of the crew was missing.

South Korea's government and Sajo Industries, the vessel's operator, said there were 60 people on board: 11 South Koreans, 13 Filipinos, 35 Indonesians and a Russian fisheries inspector. Russian authorities said there were 62 people on board.

Other fishing vessels as well as aircraft of the US Coast Guard joined the search for survivors after the Oryong-501 sank near Cape Navarin in the Bering Sea off the coast of Chukotka in Russia's Far East.

Rescue efforts continued overnight but were hampered by snow showers, high winds and 22ft waves, and were stopped as darkness fell on Tuesday. They are due to resume on Wednesday. However, the chances of finding more survivors are slim, said Artur Rets, head of the rescue team in the Russian port of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.

"In such water a person without a wetsuit can hold out for about 15 minutes. None of the rescued sailors were wearing wetsuits."

Mr Rets said the 83-metre boat had been "swamped by a wave".

"The storage area was flooded, then the hold; the rudder and fuel system jammed," he said. "Those are the initial assessments."

The New York Times reported from Seoul that the Oryong-501 left for the Bering Sea from a port in Busan, South Korea, in July. It was one of six South Korean trawlers allowed to catch a total of 40,000 tons of pollack this year under a fisheries deal with Russia.

The ship previously operated under a Russian flag as the Orion-501.

A US Coast Guard ship and a Hercules-C130 plane are expected to join the search again on Wednesday.

The survivors rescued on Monday were three Filipinos, three Indonesians and the Russian inspector.

Diplomats from South Korea's consulate in Vladivostok said they would be liaising with the trawler's owners and families of the missing crew.

Friday 5 December 2014

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