Two helicopters, two vessels searching for rest missing sailors

VLADIVOSTOK, August 29 (Itar-Tass) -- Two Mi-8 helicopters, the
Kapitan Borodkin icebreaker and the Nikolai Yevgenov hydro-geographic
vessel are searching for the missing sailors in the Laptev Sea this Sunday.
The fate of five crewmembers from the sunken tugboat is still unknown,
a source at the Vladivostok sea rescue coordination centre said.
The tugboat sank 20 miles away of the Yakut port of Tiksi. Three of
the 14 crewmembers were rescued, and six were found dead in the sea. The
sailors who were not found may remain inside the sunken vessel that is at
a depth of 20 metres.
The Kapitan Borodkin icebreaker reported by radio about the weather
conditions in the areas -- one-metre waves and the water temperature was
two degrees Centigrade.
The search area was enlarged eastward.
The tanker Lenaneft-2064, which participated in the rescue operation,
has come to Tiksi. It carried the three rescued sailors and the five
bodies. The attempt to lift the body of the sixth failed -- a fastener on
his life jacket broke, and the body sank to the seabed.
The Alexei Kulakovsky tugboat sank when it was on the way to help the
TB-0012 fishing vessel, which had sent a distress signal in the storm.
Fifteen people were aboard the vessel. When approaching the area, the
tugboat listed to the left side and sank.
August 31 is declared a day of mourning in Yakutia over the death of
tugboat crewmembers in the sea. The republic's President Yegor Borisov has
signed a decree declaring mourning. The sailors carried out their duty
during a rescue operation to help a ship in distress and gave their lives
to rescue other people, he noted in the document.
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