.URGENT-Tow-boat sinks in Laptevs Sea, 11 people missing.

VLADIVOSTOK, August 27 (Itar-Tass) - The Alexei Kulakovsky towboat
sank this night in the Laptevs Sea 20 miles from the Tixi port. There were
14 crewmembers aboard the ship; three were rescued, and 11 are missing,
reported the press service of the Far Easter Regional Centre of the
Russian Ministry for Emergencies.

.Towboat sinks in Laptevs Sea, 11 people missing.

VLADIVOSTOK, August 27 (Itar-Tass) - The Alexei Kulakovsky towboat
sank this night in the Laptevs Sea 20 miles from the Tixi port. There were
14 crewmembers aboard the vessel; three were rescued, while 11 are
missing, reported the press service of the Far Eastern Regional Centre of
the Russian Ministry for Emergencies.
Search and rescue operations started right after received information
on the sunken towboat in the area of the accident. The captain and two
seamen from the sunken vessel were lifted aboard the Lena-Neft-2064
tanker. The state of the seamen is described as satisfactory.
A group of rescuers and staff members of the Tixi section of the
Ministry for Emergences also rushed to the place of the incident. A MI-8
helicopter of the Polar Airlines with rescuers and doctors aboard flew
from Yakutsk this morning to the search area. The Kapitan Babichev tugboat
and hydrographic ship Nikolai Yevgenov also sailed out to the search zone.
The rescue operation to look for 11 missing seamen continues.

.Putin goes on trip along new Chita-Khabarovsk highway.

KHABAROVSK, August 27 (Itar-Tass) - Prime Minister Vladimir Putin goes
on a trip along the new Chita-Khabarovsk highway, guided by a desire to
see for himself several Russian regions.
"The built highway is not an ordinary event for Russia. I don't want
to use bombastic words, but all the same this is a salient event for
Russia and has even historic meaning. Our country, occupying the largest
territory in the world, has never been connected from the west to the east
with a highway," Putin said.
He noted that Russia had urgently built a railway before the war with
Japan in 1904, connecting the Far East with other regions of the country.
The premier noted that people used to go "from the European part of
the Russian Federation to the Far Eastern region by sea or snow-covered
roads in winter".
Then, the country built the Baikal-Amur Railway (BAM) not for the
economic development of the region either, but above all under conditions
of the growing conflict with the then China," Putin continued.
According to the premier, construction of the highway in the region
was not connected, for the first time, with any outside reasons. There had
not been any highway between Chita and Khabarovsk. And at long last, we
have built it. Let's have a look," the premier noted.
He called attention to a premise that economic life develops around
projects of this kind. "We plan to build there several major projects.
These are a hydropower station and a future cosmodrome. Specialists have
been looking for long to choose a place for it and have found an optimal
decision," the premier explained.
Putin added that there are also other places - future points of
development which he wanted to inspect.
Asked why he chose a Lada-Kalina car for the trip, Putin said that it
was all the same for him which car of AvtoVAZ to drive, adding that
AvtoVAZ is a major producer of cars, used by Russian people.
Replying to one of questions, Putin explained that he does not intend
to sit behind the wheel all the time.
-0-bur


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