3rd LD: Death toll in Russian trawler sinking rises to 56

The death toll in a fishing freezer trawler that sank off Russia's Kamchatka peninsula Thursday morning has risen to 56 as two more bodies were recovered, the Interfax news agency reported.

The fishing trawler, Dalniy Vostok, had 132 crew members aboard when it sank in the Sea of Okhotsk at 6:15 a.m. local time Thursday (1915 GMT Wednesday).

According to Artur Rets, chief of the Rescue Center at the Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky port, 63 people have been rescued while 13 still went missing.

Artur also said among the 132 staff, 78 are Russian nationals and the 54 others are from Myanmar, Lithuania, Ukraine and Vanuatu.

A total of 26 vessels have been participating in the rescue at the site, where water temperatures are near zero degree Celsius with waves up to 1.5 meters high.

Survivors and bodies of victims are being evacuated to the Andromeda ship. Russian Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova has ordered to deliver medical care to survivors.

Oleg Kozhemyako, acting governor of the Sakhalin region, said that the accident was caused by the empty ballast tanks.

"It had empty ballast tanks. A dragnet weighing some 80 tons was lifted on board the trawler, causing it to lose balance," Kozhemyako said.

An official of Russia's Federal Fisheries Agency denied that the vessel was overloaded.

The search for the 13 missing people has been suspended and will continue on Friday morning, Rets said. Endi