400 Dead or Missing From Sunken Soviet Cruise Ship : Freighter Ignored Warnings

Nearly 400 people were missing or dead after a Soviet cruise ship was rammed, ripped open and sunk in 15 minutes in the Black Sea by a freighter that ignored repeated calls to change course, officials said today.

Leonid Nedyak, deputy minister of the Maritime Fleet Ministry, said at a news conference that 319 people were missing and 79 dead after the accident Sunday. The other 836 were rescued, including the captains of both vessels, he said.

The 17,503-ton liner Admiral Nakhimov was carrying 1,234 people--888 passengers and 346 crew--when the 18,604-ton Soviet bulk carrier Pyotr Vasev collided with it shortly after the liner left the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk.

Nedyak said the liner departed at 10:30 p.m., was hit by the cargo ship at 11:15 p.m. and went down in about 15 minutes.

‘Very Unfortunate Blow’

“It sank quickly due to a very unfortunate blow caused by the cargo ship,” he said.

He said the liner was hit between the engine and the boiler room in the midsection on the starboard side and added that “practically speaking, it ripped the ship open.” He said the liner’s boilers did not explode.

Nedyak added, “From the moment of the blow until the sinking, it was not possible to set any life boats on the water.”

He said most of the survivors had scrambled onto inflatable life rafts and were saved by rescuers who rushed from Novorossiysk to the scene of the accident, seven miles off shore.

Nedyak said the 888 passengers on the ship were Soviet tourists. No foreign tourists were believed to be aboard.

There was an unspecified number of children aboard, of whom five were saved and two drowned.

Of the 346 crew, he said, 234 were saved.

Twenty-nine of those rescued were hospitalized.

Human Error Blamed

Nedyak said he hoped that some of the 319 missing people were still alive but added that he thought the last person rescued from the sea was saved Monday. He blamed human error for the crash.

Izvestia, the official government newspaper, said the cargo ship repeatedly failed to change course despite warning calls from the liner that it was coming too close.

“This tragedy once again sets one thinking about the monstrous price of human negligence,” Izvestia said.

Izvestia quoted the seaman at the helm of the liner, whose last name was given as Smirnov, as saying:

“We left Novorossiysk normally, everything went well. Then we saw the cargo ship far away. The duty officer began to call it on the radio.

“We took a bearing. From the bearing, we understood that the ship was crossing our path. After a pause, the Pyotr Vasev replied: ‘Don’t worry. . . . ‘

‘Began to Get Nervous’

“After several minutes we repeated our call, because the cargo ship was following its former course. A. Chudovsky, the second officer on watch, began to get nervous, as if he felt something.

“I saw how the cargo ship cut into our boat.”

The Soviet weather bureau said conditions were clear with apparently calm seas at the time of the accident.

The Pyotr Vasev, built in Japan five years ago, was acquired only recently by the Soviet Union. It was reported to have suffered less damage in the collision, and there appeared to have been no casualties among its crew.