The hull of dry cargo ship M/V Amurskaya could be damaged while loading a cargo of gold ore, said the Far Eastern transport investigation department of the Federal Investigative Committee.
"At the moment the investigation has established that a method of loading of ore onto the bulker could cause the deformation of the hull,” the regional investigative committee said in a statement.
A forensic medical examination is to establish the cause of death of a man recovered from the sunken cargo ship.
The investigators have conducted searches on board the ships in Nikolaevsk-on-Amur that were operated during this year’s navigation season by its owner OJSC Nikolaevsk-on-Amur Seaport, and on the company owned cargo handling crane, which loaded the ore on the island of Feklistov. Besides, the investigators have inspected the loading / unloading yard near the village of Kiran.
On October 28, an emergency beacon of the M/V Amurskaya laden with more than 700 tons of gold ore send issued a distress call in the area of Shantarsky islands in the Khabarovsk region. There were nine or eleven crew members, all Russian nationals, on board the ship. The M/V Amurskaya departed the port of Kiran having no permission and approvals from the local safety supervising authorities. The cargo exceeded the capacity of the vessel, which could carry only 611 tons. Besides, the investigators found that the vessels was not designed for the transportation of bulk cargoes and did not get permission to transport raw materials.