20 feared dead after fire engulfs two cargo ships near Crimea

File image: Flickr.com

File image: Flickr.com

Published Jan 22, 2019

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Moscow - Twenty people were feared dead on Tuesday after a fire

engulfed two cargo ships near the Crimean Peninsula.

The death toll stood at 10, with another 10 missing, as rescue

workers suspended their search until Wednesday, the Russian news

agency Interfax reported.

Twelve people survived the incident, the agency reported.

The blaze on the two ships, unleashed by an explosion, occurred on

Monday off the southern coast of Crimea, at the entrance to the Kerch

Strait, which connects the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov.

Sailors from India and Turkey were aboard the two ships. Some saved

themselves by diving into the water, some of them suffering burn

wounds and others hypothermia.

Both cargo vessels were sailing under the flags of Tanzania, and one

of them was a gas tanker.

Preliminary information suggested the explosion could have occurred

as fuel was being transferred from one ship to another, Russian media

reported.

Russia's annexation of Crimea from neighbouring Ukraine in 2014 and a

simmering pro-Russian rebellion in Ukraine's east have led to

tensions in the surrounding waters of the Black Sea.

In November, Russia's coastguard opened fire on several Ukrainian

naval vessels in the Kerch Strait, seizing them and Ukrainian crew

members for alleged border violations.

Ships must often wait weeks before being allowed to pass through the

Kerch Strait to the Sea of Azov. Ukraine has alleged that ships that

want to sail on to Ukrainian harbours are hassled by Russian

authorities.

dpa

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