- A ship carrying 51 people and a cargo that included crude
oil sank in a storm in the Caspian Sea, prompting a desperate search for
survivors and fears of an ecological disaster on the inland waterway, government
officials said.
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- They said there were unconfirmed reports that nine survivors
had been found after five rescue vessels and helicopters rushed to the
scene, but said there was little hope of finding any more.
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- There were also fears that hundreds of tonnes of crude
oil being carried in railway wagons on the ship's deck would leak out,
causing an environmental disaster.
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- The Mercury cargo vessel was sailing from Aktau in Kazakhstan
to Azerbaijan's capital, Baku, with 43 crew and eight passengers when it
"suffered a catastrophe," Azerbaijan's state-owned Caspian Maritime
Shipping Company, which owns the ship, said in a statement.
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- Employees of the shipping company said that rescue workers,
including divers, had been at the scene for hours. "We've been told
that they have found nine people alive," said one source.
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- "The management hasn't been telling us anything
officially but we did hear that the ship had sunk," said an employee
at the port where the Mercury had been due to arrive Tuesday morning.
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- "They sent a rescue boat out with divers but they
didn't find anyone alive. It went down in one of the deepest places. I
know all the crew. It's a tragedy for Azerbaijan," he added.
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- Azerbaijan's Prime Minister Artur Rasizade was quoted
by the local ANS television station as saying that the body of one woman
had been recovered from the sea.
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- Officials refused to comment on how the ship sank but
sources told AFP it issued a distress signal at 9:00 a.m. (0400 GMT) Tuesday
morning, after which radio contact was lost.
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- The last known position of the Mercury was about 100
kilometres (60 miles) east of Baku, the sources said.
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- According to the Caspian Maritime Shipping Company statement,
the Mercury had been carrying 16 railway containers of crude oil.
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- Azerbaijan's state oil company said it was standing by
to deal with any oil slick resulting from the accident.
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- "We are equipped to deal with a spill of up to 1,000
tonnes of oil but if it is more than that then we are helpless. We will
have to appeal for help from abroad," Azerpress news agency quoted
an oil company official as saying.
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- Questions were also raised about why rescue services
reportedly took so long to respond to the Mercury's distress signalm, with
sources saying five hours passed between the signal and reports the ship
had sunk.
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- The Mercury's owners are also responsible for marine
rescues. "We have an emergency plan but it's all just on paper,"
said another employee at the port who asked not to be named.
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- "There are special rescue vessels but just at that
moment they were not ready to go to sea. We are also wondering why help
wasn't sent sooner."
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- The ship's owners have a chequered safety record. In
July this year an oil tanker owned by the same company exploded at a Caspian
Sea port in Turkmenistan, killing six crewmen.
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- The Caspian is prone to very rough seas. The weather
in the area deteriorated sharply overnight with strong winds and heavy
rain. There were reports that rough seas were hampering the rescue operation.
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- Sources said reaching the wreck would be difficult, since
it went down in waters where the depth is between 200 and 300 meters (650
to 980 feet).
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