South Korean trawler sinks off Russian coast, one dead

At least one person was killed and 54 went missing when a South Korean fishing trawler sank near Russia's Far East coast off Chukotka peninsula, authorities said Monday.

Information about the accident was received at 5:30 p.m. after the alarm of the trawler's emergency buoy went off, Artur Rets, head of the Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky seaport's coordination and rescue operations centre, told Xinhua.

He said 62 crew members, mostly South Koreans, were on board when the vessel capsized.

"Six-seven of the trawler's crew and a Russian observing inspector were rescued in the Barents Sea," Rets said, adding that a South Korean fisherman was believed to have died from hypothermia.

Two Russian trawlers were still searching for those missing in waters off the Chukotka peninsula under severe weather conditions, he said.

The cause of the accident was yet to be determined.