Error by the captain is viewed as the most likely reason for the sinking of an Indonesia-flagged ship in the La Perouse Strait in the southern part of the Sea of Okhotsk, Russia’s Far Eastern transport investigation department said on Monday.
There were five Russian and three Indonesian nationals on board the GINGA, when it went missing on Saturday.
“One of the main versions is a violation of safety regulations… on he part of the ship’s captain,” the department said in a statement.
The emergencies center in the Russian Far East received a distress call from the ship at 22:40 Moscow time (18:49 GMT) on Saturday. Currently, the bodies of three sailors have been recovered by rescuers.
Teams from both Russia and Japan are involved in the rescue operation because the distressed ship sent an alert on the border of responsibility of both countries.
