Two Fishing Vessels Disappear Off Kuril Islands

Investigators are considering criminal charges in the loss of the fishing vessels Adex and Nort off the coast of Kamchatka, Russian media sources report. The Kamchatka transport prosecutor's office has taken up the case, said the Interfax news agency, and may bring charges including violation of safety rules resulting in the death of two or more persons.

On the morning of February 7, Russian SAR officials received EPIRB distress alarms from the Togo-flagged Adex (ex name Wirth) and the Sierra Leone-flagged Nort off of Paramushiro in the Sea of Okhotsk. First responders located EPIRBs belonging to both ships, along with a third EPIRB and a radar transponder beacon belonging to the Nort. An inflatable life raft, three wetsuits, two life jackets and a life buoy were also found, among other debris, but no crewmembers have been located.

SAR efforts continue. Aircraft from the Russian Emergencies Ministry are participating in the search, along with the vessel Sibertsev.

"According to the crew list for the Adex, filed December 15 on departure at the port of Otaru, Japan, there were 16 crew members on board, all Russian citizens,” said investigation spokeswoman Oksana Polshakova.

Both vessels are owned by a foreign company, Russian authorities say; the name of the firm was not disclosed. The cause of the vessels’ disappearance has not yet been determined and investigations continue.

The Adex had been arrested by border guards in September in the port of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky and released December 8.

The sinkings are the latest fishing vessel casualties in the Sea of Okhotsk, but not the first nor the most disastrous. Last year the factory trawler Dalny Vostok went down off Russia's east coast, in the vicinity of Magadan, with 54 crewmembers dead and 15 missing. SAR forces were able to rescue 119 from the waters near the vessel. The cause of the Vostok’s sinking remains under investigation.