Russian Rescuers Resume Works In Bulgarian Tanker

The emergency relief commission of the Novorossiisk port on the Black Sea resumed works on board the Khan Asparukh this morning after a suspension which started at 2:00 a.m. The commission is evaluating conflagration damages to the Bulgarian tanker, and rewards to the port rescue crew and rescuers of the federal Ministry for Emergency and Calamity Relief, says Oleg Arkhipov, officer on duty of the ministry's Krasnodar territorial board. Russian naval borderguards noticed a blast and an ensuing fire on board the Khan Asparukh 5:55 yesterday afternoon, shortly after the tanker took a crude petroleum cargo and left port for the open sea. The Kuban frontier patrol ship and several rescue ships and boats of the Ministry for Emergency and Calamity Relief hurried to the site. A fire ship promptly put down the engine room conflagration. No oil was dropped in the sea. The tanker was tagged to the moorage late at night. Two tugboats and the Captain Beklemishev rescue ship kept near it into this morning. Six injured Bulgarian crew members are in hospital in Novorossiisk, and out of fatal danger, say their doctors.