The tugboat Spravedlivy at 13:00 local time (06:00 Moscow time) reached the trawler Ekarma, which is burning in the Sea of Okhotsk west of the coast of Khamchatka, an duty officer of the Sakhalin navigation service told Ria Novosti.
The trawler, which is owned by the company Ekarma-Sakhalin and is registered at the Nevelsk port, caught fire at 1:00 Sakhalin time (18:00 Moscow time) on Thursday. The boat, which was being used for fishing 170 kilometers west of Cape Lopatka, reportedly caught fire as material used to package fish began burning.
“Rescuers are already aboard the Ekarma-7 and they are inspecting the trawler,” the officer said.
Part of the crew of the fishing boat has been evacuated, according to the officer.
“Forty people are on board the Mys Rubin, and seven on board the Ekarma-3,” the officer said, adding that 95 people were on board the Ekarma-7, amongst them 43 Russian citizens. None of them appears to have suffered.
The hold where the fire started has been disconnected from power and completely sealed.