Four anglers, teenager die in chilly water off Sakhalin.

VLADIVOSTOK, March 15 (Itar-Tass) -- Five people died in the chilly
water off Sakhalin last weekend.

Four amateur anglers from the Makarovsky district drowned, when they
were en route to the shore in a boat, which had taken them from a drifting
ice floe. The boat capsized amid the storm waves. Just two out of six
people inside the boat were saved, other four people have not been found
yet.
On Sunday one more tragedy broke out in the village of Krasnogorsk on
the western coast of Sakhalin. When playing on the ice edge a 12-year-old
teenager fell down into the water, the search for his body has been futile
so far.
The search for five missing people is underway, the press service of
the main EMERCOM department in the Sakhalin region reported.

.Thai Union-3 Russian crewmembers return to Kaliningrad.

KALININGRAD, March 15 (Itar-Tass) -- Twenty of 23 Russian crewmembers
from the Thai Union-3 ship returned in the native city of Kaliningrad
Monday after more than four months in captivity of Somali pirates.
They set out in remote Thailand for fishing aboard the Thai Union-3
ship about nine months ago.
The parents, wives, children and friends welcomed the sailors at the
Kaliningrad airport Khrabrovo, where an Aeroflot airplane carrying the
seamen landed right at midnight local time (01.00 Moscow time) on Monday
from Moscow. They hailed the sailors with the bunches of flowers. Some
women could not, but cried when the airplane was announced to land. But
this was the tears of joy from the long-awaited meeting with their near
and dear, from the fact that all sufferings they had to endure are behind.
After loud emotions from the meeting had subsided a little bit, the
journalists could have a short conversation with the sailors. In reply to
an Itar-Tass journalist's query what feelings the sailors are having upon
the arrival on the native Kaliningrad soil, the 3rd mechanic from the Thai
Union-3, Alexander Yefteyev answered, "Happiness to see my near and dear!"
"We believed that we would be released from captivity. Staying aboard
the Thai Union under the control of the pirates brandishing submachine
guns and pistols in front of us we were feeling wholeheartedly that we
would be freed all the same. And we realized finally that we were not in
captivity any longer, when we were en route to the Seychelles under the
escort of the tugboat SB-36 and under the guard of the Baltic Fleet patrol
ship Neustrashimy," Yefteyev said.
The sailors said the pirates fed them with the poor-quality rice and
macaroni that was enough not to die of famine. The pirates also gave to
each sailor four little soup spice packages for four months. So, it is no
surprise that the sailors lost 10-20 kilograms in weight.
Moreover, the pirates left the Thai Union crewmen without personal
belongings. They looted the ship as much as possible. "It is good enough
that the ship could move somehow," a sailor noted.
From the airport the sailors and their relatives went home quickly.
They will be offered various delicious dishes. "But they should not eat
up after some many days of the life in hunger. But all will get back to
routine gradually," the women worried about their seamen.
The Thai Union-3 crewmen agreed (long before the arrival in
Kaliningrad) that they would meet together from time to time. They do not
rule out they will sail aboard a fishing trawler together once again. "Now
we have the ties of blood," a sailor said. Probably he meant Thai Union
captain Sergei Kharlan, whom the pirates injured in the hand. Kharlan went
to Belarus from Moscow. His family lives there. Two more crewmen stayed
for some more time in the Russian capital.
The first group of a new crew arrived to replace the released sailors.
The same crewing company "Western Maritime Agency Fleet-Staff" also
recruited them in Kaliningrad. The shipowner remained the same - Siam
Fishing. The shipowner's top management stated earlier that a group of
professional security guards will stay aboard the Thai Union-3 from now on.
The Somali pirates captured the Thai Union-3 on October 29, 2009, in
the high seas, 200 nautical miles away from the Seychelles in the Indian
Ocean. Some 23 from 27 crewmen are Russian citizens from the Kaliningrad
region. The pirates released the ship and the sailors from captivity just
on March 7, 2010, after long and hard talks.

.Communist candidate leading convincingly in Irkutsk mayoral polls.

IRKUTSK, March 15 (Itar-Tass) -- A Communist deputy of the Legislative
Assembly in the Irkutsk region Viktor Kondrashov gained 62.34% of votes
after 95% had been counted in the Irkutsk mayoral elections, the press
service of the regional election commission told Itar-Tass on Monday.
Irkutsk Deputy Mayor from United Russia Sergei Serebrennikov polled
27,07% of votes. Pensioner Lyudmila Koryakova gained 4.04%.
Some 147,000 people from 443,000 Irkutsk residents entitled to vote
participated in the Sunday mayoral elections.
The post of the Irkutsk mayor became vacant after thrice-elected mayor
Vladimir Yakubovsky became a senator from the regional government in the
Federation Council in October 2009.

.Biisk mayor in Altai territory to be elected in second round.

BARNAUL, March 15 (Itar-Tass) -- The mayor of Biisk, which is the
second largest city in the Altai Territory, will be elected in a second
round. According to the preliminary results, incumbent Biisk Mayor Anatoly
Mosiyevsky gained 48.54% of votes in the Sunday mayoral elections failing
to pass a 50% election threshold, the territorial election commission told
Itar-Tass on Monday.
Five candidates are running for Biisk mayor. According to the
preliminary results, Andrei Nagaitsev will be Mosiyevsky's rival in the
run-off. He polled 23.74% of votes.
Anatoly Mosiyevsky was elected as Biisk mayor in the second round of
the elections in October 2006. He was earlier elected as a deputy of the
territorial council of people's deputies and headed the Biiskenergo
electric power company. A criminal case was instituted against Mosiyevsky
for office abuse in 2009. The investigation into the case is underway.
-0-baz


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