Three die in Ukrainian ship’s wreck in Georgian seaport

(lucky not all the Georgian Coast Guard craft were sunk or stolen by the Russian Army.)


03.10.2008, 20.14



TBILISI, October 3 (Itar-Tass) -- The Ukrainian Skadovsk dredge ship sank in the seaport of Kulevi on Friday. Two crewmembers and the captain died in an attempt to take the ship off a rock, the Georgian Unified Transport Authority said.

“The captain was warned about a storm on September 30 but ignored the warning and decided to go high seas. The vessel ran aground in the Kulevi port area in the small morning hours of October 2,” the authority said.

Representatives of Chernomortekhflot, the owner of the Skadovsk, came to Kulevi on October 2. “The operation aimed to lift the ship started in the morning, but the storm intensified, the ship’s list enlarged and water started coming inside,” the authority said. The ship sank.

Two cutters and a mobile team came to the crew’s rescue, the Georgian Coast Guard said. All the crewmembers but three, including the captain, were saved.