Another Ship Captain Arrested
Ukrainian prosecutors arrested the captain of a ship which sank en route from Istanbul to Ukraine's Crimean peninsula and charged him with breaking transport safety laws. The Pamyat Mercuria (Memory of Mercury) sank during a storm on Friday, killing 14 people. Rescuers plucked 32 survivors from lifeboats and rafts in the Black Sea on Sunday and Monday, after days spent floating in the cold waters. Ships and aircraft were still searching the sea off the southern tip of the peninsula on Tuesday for five people still missing. "The captain of the ship Leonid Ponomarenko is currently in custody," Volodymyr Rebrov, Crimea's deputy public prosecutor, told reporters. If found guilty Ponomarenko could face up to 15 years in prison.
Ferry Fire, Sinking Kills At Least 14
The Ukrainian coastguard found 14 corpses and 32 survivors marooned for two days in lifeboats and rafts in the Black Sea after a storm engulfed a small ferry. Five people were missing. Two survivors told Reuters that the ferry, carrying mostly shuttle traders taking Turkish goods for sale at Ukrainian markets, sank on Friday. They spent two days shivering aboard an overcrowded life raft which itself was gradually sinking. Sea temperatures at this time of year are around six degrees Celsius (43 degrees Fahrenheit). The 790-ton Pamyat Mercuria (Memory of Mercury) had been carrying 49 Ukrainians and two Russians from Istanbul to Yevpatoria in Ukraine's Crimea peninsula.
