A crabbing vessel and its crew of 21 are missing in the Sea of Japan, en route from South Korea to Sakhalin Island. An air search has failed to locate the missing fishing vessel.
A distress alert was received from the 53 metre Vostok, owned by Sakhalin company DV-Flot, this morning and the search is co-ordinated by the Vladivostok MRCC. Vostok is believed to have been in a position 145 kilometres south of Vladivostok when the alert was triggered, on route from Tonhe in Korea with no cargo on board.
Three helicopters have been involved in the search in the area where Vostok’s EPIRB was activated, under difficult conditions with a 5 metre wave height, storm force winds and an ice warning in place.
Operating company DV-Flot runs two other fishing vessels as well as Vostok and according to Maxim Kozlov, president of the Association of Fishing Enterprises in Sakhalin, the company’s vessels are well maintained
‘DV-Flot is part of our association, it is a fairly large company in Sakhalin that specialises in crab fishing and export,’ he said, adding that the company has been investing in the development of their own vessels, looking into the construction of new tonnage, and participating in investment in the Sakhalin region.
He said that all of the crew are resident in the Nevelsky district of Sakhalin.
The crabber was built in South Korea in 1985, became Vostok in 2011 and is registered in Nevelsk
