Captain’s Error Blamed for Russian Maritime Accident

Russian transportation city officials are blaming errors made by the captain as the reason for the sinking of an Indonesia-flagged vessel in the Sea of Okhotsk .

Russia’s Far East transport department says that one of the main reasons for the capsizing of the Ginga was the violations of safety regulations by the captain of the vessel. The Ginga went down in the southern part of the Sea of Okhotsk sometime on Sunday after it was reported missing. According to Russian authorities, emergency centers received a distress call from the vessel in the early hours of Saturday morning. There were 5 Russian crew members and three Indonesian crew members onboard the vessel.

The bodies of three seamen have already been found. The search efforts for the other bodies are being conducted by both Russian as well as Japanese teams, because the distress alert was sent out when the ship was on the border of both of these countries.

This particular accident is the third major maritime accident in, or linked to, Russia this month. Earlier this month, a Russian oil rig capsized and sank in the Sea of Okhotsk, killing dozens of oil rig workers. Also earlier this month, a Russian boat, the Sparta, struck underwater ice off the Antarctica coast, and was damaged. The boat is currently being repaired by crewmembers of the vessel, as well as the crewmembers of a South Korean vessel, which is currently at the scene of the accident.

The maritime law attorneys at Schechter, Shaffer & Harris, L.L.P., Accident & Injury Lawyers represent persons injured in maritime accident.