At least three were found dead after a Cambodia-flagged ship sank in the La Perouse Strait, an international waterway separating the Russian Island of Sakhalin and Japan's Hokkaido, Russia's regional emergencies center said on Sunday.
"According to preliminary information, the Alfa-3 vessel sailing under the Cambodian flag sank in the La Perouse Strait separating the Island of Sakhalin and the Japanese Island of Hokkaido," the regional emergencies center said.
The Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk coordination center registered a distress alert sent from an emergency buoy off Krilyon Cape in the La Perouse Strait at 8:00 a.m. local time on Saturday (21:00 GMT on Friday). The nearby Pacific Enterprise and Zaliv Vasilyeva ships and a Japanese vessel from Japan's coast guard navigation safety division joined the search for the missing ship and its crew.
Currently, five vessels, including a Japanese ship, and also a Mi-8 helicopter, are taking part in the rescue operation.
Japan's coast guard navigation safety division has said the Alfa-3 ship had a crew of eight sailors. During the rescue operation, the bodies of three sailors were lifted aboard.
A severe storm is impeding the rescue operation, with winds of 20 meters per second and sea waves of up to six meters high.
