Eight-member crew feared dead in shipwreck off Sakhalin

Five Russian and three Indonesian nationals are feared dead after an Indonesia-flagged ship went missing in the La Perouse Strait in the southern portion of the Sea of Okhotsk, Russia's Transport Ministry told Prime news agency on Sunday. The missing ship's name is GINGA, the ministry said, referring to data of the Japanese side taking part in the search and rescue operation. Previous reports said that the ship named Alfa-3 and sailing under the Cambodian flag went missing in the La Perouse Strait separating the Russian Island of Sakhalin from Japan's Island of Hokkaido. The ship's owner has not yet been identified. The vessel was sailing from the Japanese port of Wakkanai, the ministry said. 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, three bodies of sailors have been found and lifted aboard the vessels involved in the rescue operation, the ministry said. North-west winds of 14 meters per second are blowing in the area of the search and rescue operation, with sea waves of 1.5-2 meters high. Rescue 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, the ministry said. "The Russian search and rescue group comprises the Atlas rescue vessel, the Ozersk refrigerator ship, the shipping boats Paliya and Zaliv Vasilyeva, and also a Mi-8 helicopter while the Japanese team includes the REBUN patrol boat and a plane," the ministry said.