Search for missing crew and passengers called off
Search for the eight still missing persons from the sunken freighter Varnek has been called off. The vessel sank in a storm in the White Sea in the end of July.
Divers have searched the vessel completely without finding any of the crew or passengers ITAR-TASS reports. According to the Arkhangelsk regional department of the Emergencies Ministry it has been decided to call off the active search, because it has been more than two weeks since the accident.
As BarentsObserver reported, only one of the nine people aboard has been found – the mother of an eight month old baby who also was passenger on the vessel.
The freighter Varnek was on its way from Arkhangelsk to Shoyna on the west coast of the Kanin Peninsula with 130 tons of concrete blocks, containers and provisions when it was last heard from on July 23. Because of the storm, search and rescue operations could not start until three days later.
