Russian Trawler Was Sunk by Greed and Corruption, Investigators Say

MOSCOW, April 8 (Reuters) – Greed and corruption have been guilty for the sinking of a Russian trawler final week wherein a minimum of 56 crew died, a spokesman for investigators mentioned on Wednesday.

The Dalniy Vostok fishing vessel sank within the icy Sea of Okhotsk off Russia’s far jap coast final Thursday. Sixty-three folks have been rescued out of a crew of 132 folks, with 13 lacking presumed lifeless.

Many previous Russian disasters have been blamed on negligence or violation of security rules.

“There are no doubts that this is a crime at the base of which lies the greed of the businessmen who owned the vessel and corrupt officials,” Vladimir Markin, the Investigative Committee spokesman, instructed Rossiya 1 tv, TASS information company reported.

“Both the owner of this vessel and the captain knew that in the petrol tanks there was a minimal amount of fuel, the trawler’s ability to right itself was affected.”

Markin additionally mentioned investigators had established that there have been not sufficient lifeboats on the Dalniy Vostok for over 20 crew members.

“We know that on board there were a large number of foreigners who were working there illegally. We know who brought them in and by what means,” he mentioned.

“We have concrete officials (in mind), whom I won’t name so they don’t run away, but we will bring them to justice.”

(Reporting by Alexander Winning; modifying by Andrew Roche)