At least 54 dead in trawler sinking off Russia's far east: media

At least 43 people have died and 26 are missing after a Russian trawler sank late on Wednesday in the western Pacific ocean near the Kamchatka Peninsula, the TASS news agency reported, citing an officer.

At least 54 people have died and 15 are missing after a Russian trawler sank late on Wednesday in the Western Pacific Ocean near the Kamchatka Peninsula, an officer at a maritime rescue coordination centre in the area said.

Viktor Klepikov, coordinating captain of the Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky maritime rescue coordination centre, told Reuters that there were 132 people on board the Dalniy Vostok freezer trawler. He said 63 people had been rescued.

The ship was carrying 78 Russian nationals, as well as 54 foreign nationals from Myanmar, Ukraine, Lithuania and Vanuatu, the news agency said.

The trawler wrecked in the Sea of Okhotsk, 330 km west of Krutogorovsky settlement in the Kamchatka region and 250 km south of the city of Magadan.

The home port of the trawler, which was owned by Magellan LLC, was Nevelsk in Russia's Sakhalin region, TASS said.