At least 54 people have died and 15 are missing after a Russian trawler sank late on Wednesday in the Western Pacific Ocean near the Kamchatka Peninsula, an officer at a maritime rescue coordination centre in the area said.

Viktor Klepikov, coordinating captain of the Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky maritime rescue coordination centre, told Reuters that there were 132 people on board the Dalniy Vostok freezer trawler. He said 63 people had been rescued. – Reuters