Senior officials of the Southern Transport Prosecutor's Office responsible for water transport have announced the main causes of a series of shipwrecks in the Kerch Strait on November 11.
Among the causes of the disasters was the "negligence of the captains of Port Kavkaz and of the river port of Rostov-on-Don, and of the ports' control services which failed to ensure the observance of the rules of navigation in the port zones," Yelena Velikova, spokesperson for the Southern Transport prosecutor's office said citing the senior officials' report.
"The captain of Port Kavkaz did not order the ships to be moved to a safe area when the weather worsened, including ships which were not certified to sail in the sea. It was criminal negligence," Velikova said.