At least 54 people have died and 15 others are missing after a Russian fishing vessel sank off the Kamchatka Peninsula, according to Russia’s state-run Tass news agency.
Sixty-three people have been rescued, many suffering from hypothermia, according to a maritime rescue centre in Russia’s Far East.
The Dalniy Vostok freezer trawler had 132 people on board when it sank.
Seventy-eight of the crew were Russian, with the remainder coming from countries including Latvia, Ukraine, Myanmar and Vanuatu.
The Dalniy Vostok went down in the Sea of Okhotsk, 330 km west of Krutogorovsky settlement.
Drifting ice may have holed the vessel, according to Russian emergency services.
Water flooded the engine compartment and the trawler then sank within 15 minutes, a local branch of the Russian Emergencies Ministry said.
