SiNeh~
Another Case Where Large Quantities of Gold "WENT MISSING"...LOL!!!
This happened a few months ago, it's another example of gold "mysteriously" vanishing... -AK
http://www.silverdoctors.com/breaking-cargo-ship-carrying-700-tons-of-gold-vanishes-in-sea-of-okhotsk/
CARGO SHIP CARRYING 700 TONS OF GOLD VANISHES IN SEA OF OKHOTSK OFF RUSSIA
OCTOBER 29, 2012 BY THE DOC
*Breaking*
A cargo ship carrying 700 tons of gold ore has vanished late Sunday in the Sea of Okhotsk. A distress beacon was reportedly activated late Sunday, but Russian rescue operations have had no success locating the wreckage or survivors:
A sonar distress beacon was automatically activated near Feklistov Island in the Shantarsk Archipelago on Sunday, Russia’s Emergency Ministry reported. The tanker Novik was the first to arrive at the scene, but found no wreckage or survivors. The rescue operation was complicated by severe weather, and waves up to four meters high.
In other news, the FED reported Monday that Germany will be allowed to repatriate a portion of it’s gold reserves after all.
Full report on the lost crew, ship, and treasure below:
5 rescue vessels continue the search Monday:
Cargo carrier Amurskoe disappeared in the Sea of Okhotsk while carrying 700 tons of gold ore. Three ships, an amphibious aircraft and a helicopter are undertaking search and rescue operations to find the eight crewmembers of the lost vessel.
Situation with missing freighter Amurskaya is not yet clear
Sunday, October 28, 2012 - 9:09:00 PM - More articles in Accidents Discuss 0 posts Printable View
Morning Oct 29: Situation with general cargo vessel Amurskaya, which went missing after EPIRB was activated in SW part of Okhotsk sea near Shantar Islands, is not yet clear. EPIRB was activated at presumably, 03:00 UTC Oct 28. Latest known positions are shown on the map below. According to latest known AIS signal dated 1130 UTC Oct 27 vessel was proceeding in SE direction at a reduced speed 3.4 knots, due to either some kind of mechanical problem , or strong storm. There is still a chance vessel didn’t sink as she wasn’t available on a 24-hour contact, master was communicating with owner about two times a day reporting positions and situation. There are 11 crew on board and no passengers, some media said there are 8 crew, not 11, as 3 of the crew left the vessel in the port of departure.
First news:
Freighter Amurskaya went missing in Okhotsk sea, search under way nobody declared vessel as disappeared, EPIRB may go off by accident
Russian media reported disappearance of the m/v Amurskoye in Okhotsk sea, in Shantar islands area, referring to Emergency Agency and MRCC Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. According to news, the EPIRB of the vessel issued distress signal in the daytime Oct 28 2012, there are 11 passengers on board and unknown number of crew.
Still, MRCC added it’s not exactly disappearance, nobody declared vessel as disappeared, EPIRB may go off by accident. Authorities are trying to contact or locate the vessel. There is also a discrepancy in the name of the vessel, there is a general cargo vessel Amurskaya and a fishing vessel Amurskoye, media refer to Amurskoye, but they’re mistaken.
As of 22:00 UTC Oct 26 freighter was off Shantar islands in position 55 00 N 135 23E, fishing vessel at that time was in position 52 30N 156 14E, some 660 miles from the area of alleged disappearance.
General cargo vessel Amurskaya IMO 7313614, dwt 611, built 1973, flag Russia. F/v Amurskoye IMO 9075840, displacement 2829 tons, built 1992, flag Russia.
On a photo from shipspotting.com freighter Amurskaya in distress, aground off Kuhtui river esturary, Okhotsk, Okhotsk sea, photo by Savitskiy Igor, http://forum.shipspotting.com/index.php?action=profile;u=74230
Golden mystery: Ship carrying precious ore vanishes in Sea of Okhotsk
Published: 29 October, 2012, 12:35
Cargo carrier Amurskoe disappeared in the Sea of Okhotsk while carrying 700 tons of gold ore. Three ships, an amphibious aircraft and a helicopter are undertaking search and rescue operations to find the eight crewmembers of the lost vessel.
A sonar distress beacon was automatically activated near Feklistov Island in the Shantarsk Archipelago on Sunday, Russia’s Emergency Ministry reported.
The tanker Novik was the first to arrive at the scene, but found no wreckage or survivors. The rescue operation was complicated by severe weather, and waves up to four meters high.
A specially equipped Be-200 amphibious aircraft was dispatched from the city of Khabarovsk in Russia’s Far East region to join the operation, but the rescue plane found no trace of the Amurskoe.
The operation continued on Monday morning, with a Mi-8 helicopter and two trawler ships joining the search.
The Amurskoe departed the village of Neran in Russia’s Far East Khabarovsk territory, and was headed toward the port of Okhotsk in the Sea of Okhotsk. After leaving the delta of the Kiran River, the vessel entered the Sea of Okhotsk and sent out a distress signal soon after.
The Amurskoe was built in 1973 in the port of Nikolaevsk-na-Amure. Over the last year, it mainly operated in Russia’s Far East and around Sakhalin Island, and also reportedly made sporadic trips to China.
The vessel was grounded on the bottom of an estuary of the Amur River last year, but was later rescued.
Little hope remains that the Amurskoe's distress beacon was somehow washed overboard and activated, and that the ship is still traveling towards its destination.
The Sea of Okhotsk is situated in the northwestern Pacific – between Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula and the Kuril Islands to the east, the large island of Sakhalin and the eastern coast of Siberia to the west and north, and the Japanese island of Hokkaido to the south.
Rescuers search for crew of sunken Russian gold ore cargo ship
Published: 07 November, 2012, 16:05
View from aboard the Emergencies Ministry plane of the search zone where the Amurskaya bulk freighter was lost on October 28 in the vicinity of the Shantar Islands, the Sea of Okhotsk. The freighter had a crew of nine people, with 700 tons of gold-bearing ores in the hold (RIA Novosti)
Rescue teams are continuing to sweep the area where a cargo ship carrying around 700 tons of gold ore sank last month. The ship was found by scuba divers in the Okhotsk Sea in Russia’s Far East.
Scuba divers discovered the wreck of the Amurskaya freighter lying on its port side on the seabed some 25 meters deep. The rescuers did not find lifeboats or the bodies of crewmembers, indicating that the ship’s crew may have escaped before it sank.
Rescuers will now focus on searching for possible survivors, sweeping the Okhotsk Sea and its coastline.
The decision to shift focus was prompted by the extreme difficulty of exploring the vessel. “The freighter has narrow corridors and ladders. Going inside her is very dangerous,” a rescuer involved in the operation told Interfax news agency.
The danger comes from strong currents in the area, which leave divers with only a short window of opportunity during the change of the tide to enter the sunken vessel. Rescuers decided that searching the wreck was not worth the risk, and suspended underwater operations.
The cargo, estimated to be worth $230,000, is similarly difficult to recover.
[....this is really strange, assuming the ore is worth $230,000, they are spending much more on that searching for this ship. Its an old rust bucket of a Russian ship. It usually takes tons and tons of gold ore to even get an ounce of gold. Or Did Gordon Brown price this gold ore? Or was it bullion? Is this a bait and switch operation with two ships of similar names? -AK]
Meanwhile, a city court in Komsomolsk-on-Amur postponed its hearing to decide whether to jail the owner of Amurskaya. Aleksandr Shiltsin is suspected of criminal negligence that resulted in the deaths of several people, but the charge may be substituted with a less serious one if the crewmembers are found alive.
Investigators said Shiltsin authorized the ship for its ill-fated voyage despite bad weather and reported violations during the hauling of its cargo on board that eventually resulted in the wreck.
Amurskaya sent a distress signal on October 28 as the ship traveled across the Okhotsk Sea, carrying the precious ore from Polymetal International PLC's Avlayakan mine to the Hakanja processing plant.
An air patrol dispatched to the area found a large oil spill, and a nearby vessel discovered a large object in the seabed. Rescuers with specialized equipment arrived at the scene Wednesday and identified the object as the missing freighter.
Divers recovery body from sunken gold ship, 8 crew still missing
Published: 09 November, 2012, 19:59
Search operations at the site of wreck of Amurskaya dry cargo ship in the Sea of Okhotsk (RIA Novosti)
Search and rescue divers have recovered a body from the cargo ship “Amurskaya” that sank in the Sea of Okhotsk at the end of October. The search continues for 8 crewmen who were on board the freighter carrying 700 tonnes of gold ore.
The ship went down in heavy seas on her way from Kiran to Okhotsk in Russia’s Far East carrying a cargo of gold ore worth an estimated quarter of a million dollars.
It was more than a week before rescuers spotted an oil slick ten miles off shore marking where the vessel went down. The ship was discovered by dive teams from the Emergencies Ministry lying on her port side in 25 metres of water.
An air and sea search was launched looking for the nine man crew despite the extreme weather conditions.
Some experts say the chances of the crew being found alive is now very remote. “The vessel, quite possibly, sank immediately, which means all crew members remained on board. The speed with which it sank is attributed to the structure – initially it was a drag-boat which was remade into a cargo vessel,” said Deputy Chairman of the Russian Sailors’ Trade Union, Nikolay Sukhanov.
However others are not giving up hope. “The storm ladder, absence of people on the bridge, an open door below deck, absence of life rafts all point to the high possibility of the crew attempting to evacuate the sinking vessel,” say representatives of the Federal Agency for River and Marine Transport (Rosmorrechflot).
Russian daily “Komsomolskaya Pravda” quoted one of the relatives of the missing crew, the daughter of Aleksander Stukalov, saying she believes her father is alive: “we believe our father, he’s an experienced sailor, a strong man, he’ll survive.”
A battered life raft was spotted on the coast of an island in the vicinity of the wreck which investigators believe it did come from the freighter.
Accident investigators say they have uncovered evidence the “Amurskaya” was overloaded. The ship was carrying 750 tonnes of cargo, even though it was only allowed to carry 610 tonnes.
Maritime experts believe the cargo could have shifted in the rough seas sinking the vessel.
[...bullion is very very heavy, much heavier than the ore it comes from... -AK]
The owner of the “Amurskaya” has been charged with criminal negligence, leading to the death of two or more persons.
The Russian Investigative Committee says Aleksander Shiltsin personally ordered the vessel to leave the loading docks and head out into the stormy seas. Investigators add Shiltsin knew “Amurskaya” was overloaded.
Investigators also say the vessel was understaffed, carrying only 9 crew members instead of the 11 prescribed for this type of freighters.
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