Collision Sinks Soviet Liner in Black Sea

A 17,053-ton Soviet liner capable of carrying 870 passengers collided with a cargo ship off the Soviet Black Sea port of Novorossiysk and sank in what officials called a “real tragedy” that resulted in a “loss of life,” the Tass news agency reported Monday.

Tass did not say how many people were aboard, and no casualty figures were disclosed, but authorities indicated that the toll was high. The ship, the German-built Admiral Nakhimov, sank quickly around midnight Sunday inside Soviet territorial waters.

Cargo Ship Afloat

The cargo ship, the Pyotr Vasev, remained afloat and apparently suffered little damage and no casualties.

Chief External Affairs Director Igor M. Averin of the Ministry of the Maritime Fleet said civilian and military rescue teams from throughout the area were fighting to save lives, and they hoped that many could have survived in the warm waters of the Black Sea.

But he added: “It’s a real tragedy. It is quite evident there will be casualties.”

There were no foreigners aboard for the ship’s six-day domestic cruise between Odessa and Batumi near the Turkish border, Averin said.

Informed Soviet sources said the luxury liner had sailed out of the harbor at Novorossiysk with all lights blazing for a gala cruise. There was a slight swell, and suddenly the cargo ship and the liner collided, the sources said.

A spokesman for the Soviet weather bureau said conditions were clear with apparently calm seas.

“There was no fog, no rain and only moderate winds,” he said.

No SOS Reported

In Turkey, across the Black Sea, none of the major radio stations monitoring maritime frequencies along the coast reported hearing an SOS from the Admiral Nakhimov. All the monitors said they could pick up Novorossiysk, about 60 miles southeast of the Crimean Peninsula.

The port of Novorossiysk was equipped with a Hungarian-built electronic navigation and reference aid system in 1984 because of the heavy volume of coastal traffic in the area--one of the few warm-water navigational areas in the Soviet Union.

It was not immediately known if the navigational system was in use at the time of the collision.

In 1983, a special government commission of the Maritime Ministry launched an investigation into the activity of the Black Sea line after a series of collisions and near-collisions along the coastal route.

“The incidents which at times involve Black Sea vessels happen mostly through the fault of their crews,” the commission concluded.

According to Lloyd’s Register of Ships, the ice-strengthened Admiral Nakhimov is registered in Odessa and operated by the Black Sea Shipping Co. The line operates 87 passenger liners servicing 26 Soviet coastal cities and 10 foreign ports. It carries about 48 million passengers a year.

Tass said a government commission, appointed to investigate the collision and sinking, is headed by First Deputy Premier Geydar A. Aliyev, a member of the party’s ruling Politburo. The choice of Aliyev as commission chairman indicated the seriousness of the accident.

He also led the state commission that investigated the crash of a Volga River cruise ship in June 1983, in which unconfirmed reports said more than 200 people perished.

The 575-foot long Admiral Nakhimov, originally named the Berlin, was built in 1925. It was taken and renamed by the Soviets after World War II. Nazi Germany is believed to have used it as a hospital ship.

Adm. Pavel Stepanovich Nakhimov was a defender of Sevastopol during the Crimean War of 1854-55. The vessel named for him became the flagship of the Black Sea cruise fleet in the 1950s.

The 18,604-ton bulk carrier Pyotr Vasev was built five years ago in Japan but only recently purchased by the Soviet Union, Lloyd’s said. Its displacement with maximum cargo, stores and crew would be 32,961 tons, it added.