Fate of Bulgarian Working on Russian Platform Unknown

The Kolskaya floating platform which has completely sunken in the Sea of Okhotsk. Photo bshippingexplorer.net

The fate of Bulgarian, Zhivko Zhekov, who was working on the sunken Russian floating oil platform, remains unknown.

An MI-8 helicopter, which had joined the rescue and search operation, had found four more bodies, but Zhekov was apparently not among them. The crew attempted to bring the bodies on board, but was prevented by strong wind and high waves.

Two helicopters, the icebreaker "Magadan" and the towing ship "Neftegaz-55," are involved in the search – they also found a lifeboat and four rafts from the submerged platform, but there were no people on them.

The Russian floating oil platform "Kolskaya" capsized Sunday in a storm in the Sea of Okhotsk, resulting in the confirmed deaths of 4 of its crew, with the vast majority of them disappeared.

Out of the 67 crew on board, only 14 have been confirmed rescued, with the whereabouts of 47 being unconfirmed. The 5-meter high wave had swept all lifeboats and it is assumed no one was able to reach them before the sinking.

Zhekov had been employed for 6 years by the British insurance company "Noble Denton." His family learned the news from the media.

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