(Reuters) -A district in Russia’s Sakhalin region has been put on high alert after a Chinese cargo ship ran aground off the southwest coast of the Sakhalin Island, the governor of the region in Russia’s Far East said early on Sunday.
No fuel spillage was recorded and there was no threat to the crew, but the situation required readiness for any scenario, the governor, Valery Limarenko, said on the Telegram messaging app.
The ship was stranded in the shallow waters off Sakhalin’s Nevelsky district, he added.
“A high alert regime has been introduced in the district,” Limarenko said.
Limarenko later said that it was a Chinese ship, but marine and diving rescuers could not approach the vessel due to a strong storm.
“Decisions on unloading the vessel or removing it from the shallows will be made as soon as the weather conditions improve,” he added.
The Sakhalin region in Russia’s Far East comprises the Sakhalin Island and the chain of the Kuril Islands.
Soviet troops took control of the four islands off Japan’s Hokkaido – known in Russia as the Kurils and in Japan as the Northern Territories – at the end of World War Two and they have remained in Moscow’s hands since. The dispute has prevented the two countries from signing a peace treaty.
(Reporting by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne; Editing by Daniel Wallis)
