Plane carrying 4 vessel fire victims departs for Turkey

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) - Bodies of four Turkish sailors killed in a vessel fire in Russia’s Kerch Strait will be transported to Istanbul on Monday, according to Russian media reports.

The deceased sailors were transported from Kerch to Moscow early Monday to later be delivered to Istanbul, local authorities told state-run news agency RIA.

At least 10 people were killed when two vessels in the disputed Kerch Strait were consumed by fire on Jan. 21, while one of them was transferring its cargo of liquified gas to the other.

Total of 16 Turkish sailors were aboard at the moment of incident, according to the Turkish Foreign Ministry. Four of them were killed in the fire, while eight others were rescued and four more remain missing.

According to Russian data, a total of 32 sailors -- Turkish and Indian citizens -- were on the two vessels when the fire started, leaving 12 dead, 10 rescued and 10 missing.

The Kerch Strait links the Black Sea to the Sea of Azov.