By RIA Novosti
Krasnodar : Russia’s border guards have joined search for eight missing crewmembers of a Bulgarian cargo ship that sank Thursday in the Azov Sea, an emergencies service spokesman said Sunday.
“On Sunday, Russia’s border guards joined the search, they are looking for the crewmen on the shore,” he said, adding the Russian emergency service was considering a helicopter as a possible means for further search operations.
The Vanessa, carrying scrap metal, with 11 crew members, of whom 10 were Bulgarian citizens and one a citizen of Ukraine, sank at 6.00 a.m. Moscow time (3 a.m. GMT) Thursday in the Sea of Azov between Ukraine and Russia, about 30 miles from the Kerch Strait.
One Bulgarian mechanic has been rescued, and two bodies have been found.
Last November a storm in the Kerch Strait sank four ships and an oil tanker. At least six sailors died. The incident resulted in about 2,000 metric tons of fuel oil spilling into the sea.