Ship Distressed in Sea of Japan

Reports indicate that Motor ship Diana that sent distress signals from the Sea of Japan has about 4,000 tons of cargo aboard. The ship, which flies the Cambodian flag and has an 18-strong Russian crew, has scrap metal in the holds and timber on the deck. The piles of timber have shifted and are partly hanging overboard, said Konstantin Sviridov, the chief of Maritime Salvage and Coordination Center in Vladivostok. The Diana called out of the port of Vanino in Khabarovsk territory Sunday and headed for Japan, but in the small hours of Wednesday it sent a distress signal and turned towards the major Russian commercial port of Nakhodka, not far from Vladivostok. Russian maritime authorities dispatched towboats Predanny and Lazurit from the port of Vladivostok to the distress area right after the SOS signal was received. Another Cambodian motor ship, the Jennifer Star, was cruising near the Diana at the time of reporting. Sviridov said it would take the Diana’s crew aboard if the situation became really critical.