Rescue team recovers 6 bodies at Kolskaya rig disaster site (update)
Salvage ship Atlas today recovered six more bodies of workers from the sunken Kolskaya drilling rig, bringing the total number of recovered bodies to 17.
Eleven bodies, recovered earlier, have been delivered at the port of Korsakov based on Sakhalin Island. Identification of the bodies will begin this afternoon.
The icebreaker "Magadan" and the Atlas are continuing search operation at the scene, with the Mi-8 (owned by Aviashelf) helicopter conducting a fly-over of the disaster site. Weather conditions are relatively good in the area but forecast to worsen this night, with the sea swell to exceed 6-7 meters. The Regional Emergencies Ministry Center said it would decide whether to continue the search.
The jack up drilling rig Kolskaya with 67 workers on board capsized and sank off Russia's far eastern island of Sakhalin on Sunday while being towed through a winter storm from Kamchatka to Sakhalin. The Kolskaya is owned by Arktikmorneftegazrazvedka (AMNGR), a unit of state-run Zarubezhneft.