Ukrainian ship traveling from Istanbul sinks with 51 on board late Saturday. Rescuers alerted by ship's failure to arrive at port
29 – Fourteen people were killed and five were reported missing after a Ukrainian ship sank in the Black Sea, emergency officials said Monday.
The ship was traveling from Istanbul, Turkey with 51 people on board when it sank late Saturday, said Volodymyr Pashynskyi, a spokesman for the Emergency Situations Ministry.
However, rescuers began searching only Sunday, after the Pamyat Merkuria failed to arrive on schedule at the Ukrainian Black Sea port of Yevpatoria, he said.
Rescuers first found a life raft carrying six survivors and eight dead bodies in the cold sea. Later Sunday, rescuers picked up 23 people who had been spotted on two rafts by passing ships. Three more passengers were rescued early Monday, Pashynskyi said.
He could not say when the other six dead bodies were discovered.
The ship’s captain, 62-year-old Leonid Ponomarenko, was rescued and reported to be in critical condition, Pashynskyi said.
The Pamyat Merkuria was carrying 31 crew members and 20 passengers, who officials said were likely small traders who buy goods such as clothing in Turkey to sell in Ukraine for a markup.
The captain didn’t radio a distress call because his radio was old and apparently malfunctioned, Pashynskyi said. The cause of the sinking will be investigated, Pashynskyi said.
However, he said it was already clear that the 37-year-old boat had violated safety rules.
It was considered safe only for travel in coastal waters no more than 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) from land, he said. But the life rafts were discovered about 160 kilometers south of the Ukrainian port of Sevastopol.
Pashynskyi said the captain had set a course «straight from Istanbul through the open sea. Such an old ship should not go in the open sea.»
