Cyclone kills 3 fishermen on Pacific Coast in Russia

A strong cyclone, which was raging along the Pacific coast in Russia last weekend, killed three fishermen, five fishermen were reported missing and 13 fishermen were saved,reported the Russian Itar-Tass news agency Monday. On Sunday, the fishing schooner Ginga under the flag of Cambodia sank in the La Perouse Strait, which separates the Sakhalin Island from the Hokkaido Island. The Ginga crew consisted of five Russians and three Indonesians. During the search operation three sailors were found dead, two of them were identified as Russian citizens, namely the chief mechanic and a sailor from the Ginga, the Itar-Tass news agency reported. All three dead sailors are onboard the Atlas rescue ship, which continues the search for missing people in the schooner sinking area, the press service of the Far Eastern regional emergency situation centre reported. The Ginga schooner was earlier found by the border guards as a blatant poaching ship. On the same day all 13 Russian crewmen were saved from the Success ship under the flag of Cambodia in distress in the Tatar Strait. On Sunday afternoon, the ship gave the May Day signal. A big dry cargo ship Chelyabinsk of the Far Eastern shipping company was taking shelter from the storm in ten nautical miles from the point of the May Day signals near the Peschany Cape. She was heading to the ship in distress and found the Success afloat, but with a big list on the portside. Two life rafts with people were near the ship. Despite high winds of up to 24 meters per second and waves four-five meters high, the Chelyabinsk managed to get all 13 Success crewmen onboard. After the rescue the Chelyabinsk dry cargo ship headed to the Peschany Cape to wait for the weather to improve. The Success ship remained in the distress area and its situation is unclear. All rescued sailors were handed over to the authorities at the Vanino port, where the Chelyabinsk will sail for coal loading, the press service of the Far Eastern shipping company reported. The last hit of the cyclone was the eastern Kamchatka coast, where the Chinese dry cargo ship Ai Qi Shan ran aground. The ship broke into two over a storm, but no people were onboard the ship. "The Rubin rescue ship, which is about to sail to the incident area, will find the Ai Qi Shan damages, the danger of sailing and the probability of fuel leakage. The Rubin rescue ship belongs to the Sakhalin sea rescue department," the authorities of the Kamchatka Territory said.