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Ekarma-7 trawler being towed away to avoid powerful storm
02/04/2009 Source:Translation: RusNavy.com
The Russian rescue boat Spravedlivy is towing the fishing trawler Ekarma-7 away from the path of a powerful storm in the Sea of Okhotsk, an officer of the Sakhalin Navigation Service told Ria Novosti on Wednesday. The Ekarma-7 caught fire during fishing a few days ago.
“A powerful storm is sweeping the southern coast of Kamchatka. Waves reach a height of 9 meters. The Ekarma-7 is being towed along the western coast of the peninsula to the north, where waters are calm enough to allow rescuers to perform an evaluation of the state of the trawler,” the official said.
There smoke again on the Ekarma-7, but there are no open flames, the official said.
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 fishing 170 kilometers west of Cape Lopatka, reportedly caught fire as material used to package fish began burning.
The rescue boat Spravedlivy reached the trawler in distress on Friday. Rescuers planned to tow the boat to shore for an inspection on the same day, but during towing a fire once again broke out in the hold of the boat. The fire was contained only by the end of the day.
Foreigners working aboard the trawler were evacuated on Friday, while the remaining crew was evacuated on Saturday. The trawler had 95 people aboard, among them 43 Russian citizens. No-one was reported injured.
The section of the boat used to process fish has burned completely. The motor room, where the fire started, has been tightly sealed.