Notification to passing by ships to look for m/v Vostok missing in the Sea of Japan is ceased. The SAR active phase was over on 29 January.
"Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre in Vladivostok stopped notifying ships passing through the Sea of Japan to look for m/v Vostok missed on 25 January," said Nikolai Pirozhkov, the head of Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre to
TASS.
"Notification to passing by ships to look for m/v Vostok missing in the Sea of Japan is ceased. The SAR active phase was over on 29 January, then we kept searching for 9 days more but found nothing," said Pirozhkov.
The press-office of the EMERCOM Main Department in Primorski Krai informed TASS that aircraft will not be used for searching m/v Vostok search on Thursday due to harsh weather conditions. Decision to finish the search is not taken yet.
EPIRB of fishing freezerVostok (port of registry: Nevelsk, Sakhalin region) had activated on 25 January in the Sea of Japan, 50 to 70 nm off Posyet, Primorsky Krai; the ship had 20 persons on board. Two empty rafts from m/v Vostok were found by the end of the third day of SAR operation. Since then, no other signs of the ship or the crew were found by the rescuers.
