Eight feared dead after Russia sinks Chinese cargo ship (Roundup)

Feb 19, 2009, 6:52 GMT

   Beijing - Eight crew were feared dead after Russian Coast Guard vessels fired on a Chinese ship that was fleeing port after a dispute over a rice cargo, Chinese and Russian media said Thursday.

   China's Foreign Ministry said the cargo ship New Star sank Saturday off Russia's eastern port of Nakhodka in waters close to Japan.

   The ministry did not give the cause of the sinking, but media reports said the Russian Coast Guard opened fire after the cargo ship ignored warnings to return to port.

   China's Global Times newspaper said at least one sailor was shot dead before the ship sank.

   Russia's RIA Novosti news agency said eight crew died at sea after the Sierra Leone-flagged vessel sank during a storm.

   The ship was owned by a Hong Kong-based company and had tried to deliver a cargo of rice, but a Russian buyer refused to accept the rice because of quality concerns.

   The Hong Kong company ordered the captain to flee Russian waters because it feared legal action, the agency quoted local prosecutors as saying.

   The ship then left port without permission and 'crossed the Russian border illegally,' local police told the agency.

   The 16 Indonesian and Chinese crew entered life rafts after the ship began sinking and eight were rescued by a Russian ship, the report said.

   Attempts to save the other eight crew 'failed when they were washed out to sea and drowned,' the agency said.

    The Global Times said the New Star was sequestered in Nakhodka for 'alleged smuggling.'

    It said a Russian Coast Guard cruiser fired at least 500 rounds on the ship and 'forced it to sail back toward the port in force-6 winds.'

   The ship began to sink on the way back to port and one of the two lifeboats was engulfed by high waves, the newspaper said.

   It said three of the eight missing crew were Chinese and the rest were Indonesian.

   China's Foreign Ministry gave different numbers for the crew and missing, saying three of the 10 Chinese crew on board were rescued and seven were missing.

   The newspaper said the New Star did not send an SOS signal to the Russian Coast Guard.

   The International Maritime Organization listed the owner of New Star as a shipping company in the eastern Chinese province of Zhejiang and the operator as a company in the southern port of Guangzhou, it said.

   Russian prosecutors were investigating the conduct of the Coast Guard officers in the incident, RIA Novosti said.