Search in White Sea Suspended, One Body Found

The search operation for five crewmen of the freighter VARNEK, which sank in a storm, has been suspended.

During an air reconnaissance operation last week the overturned freighter was spotted 100 meters away from the Karga island off the north-eastern end of the Kanin peninsula. The rescuers examined 70 kilometers of the coastal line in the wreckage area and the houses of fishermen. No crewmen were found.

The freighter crew’s last communication was at about 8 pm Moscow time on July 23. The ship was sailing 20 nautical miles off the Kanin Nos Cape amid a violent storm with the gusts of wind up to 25 meters per second. The Varnek was shipping containers and concrete blocks from Arkhangelsk to Shoina. The freighter had five crewmen: three Arkhangelsk residents and two others from the settlement of Kamenka in the Mezen district of the Arkhangelsk Region and Yaroslavl.

The freighter was also carrying three passengers a husband, wife and their eight-month child. Only one woman, presumably a passenger, was found dead, her body was airlifted to Naryan-Mar where she is being identified.

It will be clear after diving submersions if crewmen remained aboard the freighter.

The Varnek is a flat-bottom boat or a freighter with the shallow draft. The vessel was built in 1974, is 33.55 meters long, seven meters wide with the board of 2.4 meters high, the draft of 1.84 meters and the water displacement of 154 tons. The freighter crew include Captain Alexander Konstantinovich Kurulyuk born in 1960, executive officer Sergei Yuryevich Sokolov born in 1963, chief engineer Yevgeny Ivanovich Sokolov born in 1961, motorman Nikolai Vyacheslavovich Vorobyev born in 1965 and sailor Alexander Alexandrovich Sudnov born in 1979.