Sea Accidents Already Frequent in 2003

Accidents start happening in the new year

The beginning of the year 2003 has already been marked with a large number of breakdowns and criminal accidents on the sea. Specialists say that a similar number of accidents was registered in 1986, when four vessels and their crews got into trouble on the sea. Three accidents like that happened with three ships over the first three days of 2003.

RBC.Ru reported that eight people were wounded as a result of the collision between the Singaporean anti-submarine ship the Courageous and a trading vessel. Four sailors were blocked in a hold of the military ship. The accident happened near the southern coast of Malaysia, not far from Pedra Branca, an island claimed by both Singapore and Malaysia. The name of the cargo ship, its class, tonnage and ownership have not been exposed yet. The cargo ship ran into a large anti-submarine vessel of the Singaporean navy. Nothing has been reported about the peculiarities of the damage.

Gazeta.Ru reported that a catcher boat the Viktoria sank in  shoaling waters of the Primorye region of Russia. Six people were reportedly on board the boat. The tragedy happened in the Olga Gulf, 0.5 mile off the coast. The boat did not transmit any SOS signals; most likely, there was no radio on board. Sailors on duty of the vessel Omsky 1 saw six men in hydrosuits jumping overboard. When the Omsky 1 arrived to the site of the sinking, all the men were found dead in the ice-cold water. No documents were found with them. The boat reportedly sank due to the icing of its bow. The boat lost its stability, turned over itself, and sank.  The rescue department of the region ordered all boats in the Olga Gulf to search for the crewmen.

Nuvse.com website reported that a Shanghai rescue boat saved Russian sailors in the Gulf of Taiwan. The operation was conducted in stormy and windy weather. The power-generating unit of a Russian fish boat went out of order. The boat traveled from the Russian city of Vladivostok to Vietnam. As a result of the breakdown, the boat started drifting along the current of the Gulf of Taiwan. The Chinese Communications Ministry sent a rescue boat to the site of the accident. Twenty-three Russian crewmen  successfully left their drifting vessel and got on board the Chinese rescue boat.

A PRAVDA.Ru source in the headquarters of the Russian Northern Navy reported that a sailor slid a sloping board of a submarine that was docked in Sayda Bay (not far from the Kola Gulf). The man had to swim in the ice-cold water for about six minutes. He was lucky to stay alive owing to sailors on duty. However, it is not clear, what he was looking for on board the submarine, which was actually a big pile of metal scrap.

Vitaly Bratkov
PRAVDA.Ru

Translated by Dmitry Sudakov