Russian Ship Missing

Russian Ship Missing, A Russian cargo ship with some 11 crew on board was missing on Sunday in the rough waters of the Sea of Okhotsk, with a storm complicating the rescue operation, Russian news agencies reported.
The Amurskoye ship was carrying ore from a mine in Okhotsk when emergency services received a distress signal emitted by its radio buoy at around 0415 GMT, the RIA agency said.
Stormy weather, rains and snow in the area of the Shantar islands in the northern part of the Okhotsk Sea are complicating search efforts, RIA quoted an emergency official as saying. A vessel with a nine-person crew and 700 tons of gold ore onboard has gone missing in stormy seas off Russia's Pacific Coast.

The ship sent a distress call on Sunday as it was sailing from the coastal town of Neran to Feklistov Island in the Sea of Okhotsk.

The vessel, hired by mining company Polymetal, was carrying 700 tons of gold ore from one deposit to another where it was to be processed. Gold ore is the material from which gold is extracted and contains only a small percentage of the precious metal.

Polymetal's spokesman on Monday would not estimate the value of the cargo.
The company said it has shipped ore via that route before, and there was nothing unusual in shipping it by the sea.