Ship-wreck involving 15 Indians in Russia:DGS working with MEA

The Directorate General of Shipping is in touch with the foreign ministry in the search and rescue operations underway following a blaze on two ships off the Russian waters, which have 15 Indian sailors on board.

Fourteen sailors are confirmed dead in the fire that broke out Monday near Crimea and the casualties, if any, of Indian seamen, are not immediately known, an official from the Directorate General of Shipping said here Tuesday.

"We have given a list of all the 15 Indian seamen who are on these ships to the foreign ministry, which is coordinating with our embassy officials in Moscow," a senior DGS official told PTI.

Local authorities are still ascertaining the identities of those who lost their lives, after which the DGS will be informed through the embassy, the official said, adding the regulator's efforts will start after that. Right now the focus is on the search and rescue, and identification of the dead, the official added.

The 15 sailors hail from different parts of the country and are serving on board these ill-fated vessels which caught fire Monday.

Two ships carrying Indian, Turkish and Libyan crew caught fire in the Kerch Strait separating the Crimea from Russia, killing at least 14 sailors, according to foreign media reports.

The fire broke out off the Russian waters. Both the vessels were of Tanzanian flags. One of them was a liquefied natural gas carrier and the other a tanker. The fire broke out as the two ships were transferring fuel from one to the other.

One of the ships, the Candy, had a 17-member crew, including nine Turks and eight Indians, while the other one, the Maestro, had a 15-member crew, including seven each Turkish and Indian nationals, and an intern from Libya, the Russian news agency Tass quoted maritime authority as saying.

Fourteen people were killed in the accident, Sergei Aksyonov, a Crimean official confirmed to reporters Tuesday. He further said 12 people have been rescued, while six are still missing.

The Kerch Strait is a key waterway that holds strategic importance for both Russia and Ukraine. It is an economic lifeline for Ukraine that allows ships leaving the port city of Mariupol to access the Black Sea.

It's also the closest access point for Russia to the Crimea, a peninsula Moscow annexed in 2014. A Russian-built bridge over the Kerch Strait opened last May.