VLADIVOSTOK (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 16th June, 2023) The crew of the Marshall Islands-flagged bulk carrier Beks Force, which is burning off the coast of the city of Nakhodka in Russia's Primorsky Territory, has refused to evacuate, the main directorate of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations in the region told Sputnik on Friday.
"As far as we are informed, the crew has refused to evacuate. But our aviation is on standby. The ship is afloat, not sinking," a ministry official said.
Earlier in the day, a source familiar with the matter told Sputnik that Beks Force, with a crew of 25 people, was on fire some 25 miles off Russia's coast, adding that two people were injured in the incident.
The ministry later clarified that there were 24 crew members aboard the ship, which was en route from China to Russia's Vostochny Port.
The ministry said that those injured had been already evacuated from the ship and were being taken to the coast. The ministry added that several vessels of Russia's Marine Rescue Service and the regional border department of Russia's Federal Security Service were sent to the disaster area. The ministry's aviation and rescuers were also on standby.
The fire on the ship started in the engine room, Nikolai Sukhanov, chairman of the Far Eastern regional office of the Russian Union of Sailors, told Sputnik. Sukhanov said the two injured sailors had been evacuated from the ship on helicopters. He also said that the ship had a Turkish owner and a crew of 23, all Indian nationals.
Alexei Kravchenko, spokesman for the Federal Agency for Maritime and River Transport, noted that the crew of the ship was able to localize the fire in the engine room and then asked for help in extinguishing the fire.
"In Primorsky Territory, the transport prosecutor's office is conducting an inspection in connection with a fire on a foreign ship. According to preliminary data, there are 24 crew members (citizens of the Philippines and Turkey) on board," the Russian Far Eastern Transport Prosecutor's Office said.
A law enforcement source in the region told Sputnik that both injured crew members were Filipinos.
