OREANDA-NEWS. A Russian fishing trawler sank off the coast of Estonia on Friday night, seven crew members were rescued. This was reported by the ERR portal.

According to him, the Estonian Police and Border Guard Board received a distress signal from a ship on Thursday at 23:40, 15 nautical miles north of the Uminda Peninsula. The steering of the transmitting signal of the trawler failed, the two sections were filled with water. There was no electricity on board, the ship went into drift.

The Estonian Maritime Guard Center organized a rescue operation together with Finland, informing nearby ships of a distressed trawler. The tanker under the Liberian flag was the first to come to the aid of the trawler, who discovered a life raft with crew members and lifted them aboard. Two of the injured were taken by helicopter to a hospital in Helsinki, and another five Estonian police helicopters delivered to the North-Estonian Regional Hospital for medical examination.

All members of the crew of the trawler are Russian citizens, the message says. The Estonian Department of Waterways will investigate the collapse of the Russian fishing trawler Pongoma, said department spokeswoman Madle Puusepp. "The investigation will be mandatory because it is a serious maritime disaster that has occurred in the waters of Estonia", she told the Estonian news agency.