A Russian fishing trawler capsized and sank in the freezing waters of the northern Barents Sea on Monday, with 17 of its 19 crew members feared dead. The Emergency Situations Ministry attributed the sinking to a heavy build-up of ice on the trawler, which sank off the coast of the Novaya Zemlya archipelago. Ships from Russia's Northern Fleet were headed to the area to try to look for survivors, Interfax said. Rescue ships are facing temperatures of around minus 20C and waves of around four metres high (13 feet), the Emergency Situations Ministry said. A port official in the city of Murmansk told the TASS news agency that one crew member had already been found dead in Arctic waters.

Source: dna December 28, 2020 10:53 UTC