MOSCOW. April 2 (Interfax) - Fifty-four sailors have so far been confirmed dead after a Russian trawler sank off the Kamchatka peninsula in the Sea of Okhotsk, Viktor Yatsutsenko, director of the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry's National Crisis Management Center, told a conference call in Moscow on Thursday.
"A total of 117 people have been lifted from the water. Of them, 63 are alive and 54 are dead," he said.
Another 15 crew members from the trawler remain unaccounted for, he said.
The vessel had 78 Russians and 54 citizens of other countries on board when it sank.
"They include citizens of Myanmar, Ukraine, Latvia and Vanuatu," Yatsutsenko said.
All survivors are most likely to be transported to the Korsakov port on board the vessel Andromeda, he added.
For his part, Alexander Solovyev, head of the Emergency Situations Ministry's Far East regional center, reported that 1,588 rescuers are working at the site of the accident, including 274 specialists and 58 units of equipment provided by the ministry.