AZERBAIJAN: AT LEAST ONE PERSON HAS DIED AND 42 ARE MISSING AFTER SINKING OF PASSENGER BOAT

Record ID: 218580

  • Title: AZERBAIJAN: AT LEAST ONE PERSON HAS DIED AND 42 ARE MISSING AFTER SINKING OF PASSENGER BOAT
  • Date: 23rd October 2002
  • Summary: (U6) BAKU, AZERBAIJAN (OCTOBER 23, 2002) (REUTERS) 1. SLV HOSPITAL CORRIDOR; MV DOCTORS IN HOSPITAL (3 SHOTS) 0.19 2. (SOUNDBITE) (Azeri) UNIDENTIFIED VICTIM, SAYING "We heard the S.O.S. signal, ran up to board, put on life jackets and jumped into the waters." 0.30 3. SCU VICTIM IN HOSPITAL BED 0.32 4. MV PEOPLE OUTSIDE OF HOSPITAL;
  • Embargoed: 7th November 2002 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BAKU, AZERBAIJAN
  • Country: Azerbaijan
  • Reuters ID: LVAE5W14RV7G8TVP5WB96WBRTQBV
  • Story Text: At least one person has died and 42 more are missing
    after a passenger boat sunk in the Caspian Sea off of the
    coast of Azerbaijan.

    Eight people were flown into hospitals at the Azeri
    capital of Baku, the survivors were plucked from sea waters
    over 100 kilometres off of the shoreline.

    Russian television reports said Azeri navy ships and civil
    aviation helicopters circled the area in a search for
    survivors.

    Stormy conditions hampered rescue operations in the area,
    where the Caspian reaches depths of 300 metres (1,000 feet).

    It's believed the severe weather caused the Mercury-2 to
    have gone under.

    The ship was carrying oil from Aktau in Kazakhstan along a
    route past oil platforms in the Caspian, where Iran and four
    ex-Soviet states, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Russia and
    Turkmenistan, are developing oil and gas deposits.

    Nearly 1,000 tonnes of oil spilled into the Caspian Sea as
    the Mercury-2 went down and government ships stand ready to
    begin a massive clean up once the rescue operation has been
    called off.


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