KHABAROVSK, November 5 (RIA Novosti) – Divers will search for a Russian cargo vessel, the Amurskaya, that went missing a week ago in the Sea of Okhotsk, a spokesman for the Far Eastern Emergencies Ministry department said on Monday.
The missing bulk freighter with nine crew members on board was en route from the port Kiran to the port of Okhotsk with a cargo of gold ore weighing 700 tons.
An amphibious Beriev Be-200 aircraft earlier spotted oil spots on the sea surface and the Rubin trailer using an echo depth sounder discovered an object at the depth of 25 meters (82 feet) that could be the missing cargo vessel.
“The divers are planning to examine an object that was found. Today the streams, which complicated the dive yesterday, have weakened,” the spokesman said adding that the weather conditions are poor in the region.
An emergency beacon of the Amurskaya sent a call of distress on October 28 at 08:15 a.m. Moscow time (05:15 GMT) near the Shantar islands in the southwestern portion of the Sea of Okhotsk. The tanker Novik, which arrived at the scene of the beacon’s distress call, did not discover the vessel.