You're reading: Divers find sunken Russian ship carrying gold ore

MOSCOW (AP) — Divers have found a Russian ship carrying 700 tons of gold ore that sank off the Pacific coast last month.

The
freighter Amurskaya had been missing since Oct. 28 when it sent a
distress call from the Sea of Okhotsk, an arm of the Pacific.

A statement from the Transportation Ministry said its 11 crew members remain unaccounted for.

The ship was found by divers in about 75 meters (230 feet) of water on Wednesday, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported.

Police
have lodged criminal charges against the ship’s owner, who also is
director of the Nikolaevsk-on-Amur port, where the ship is registered,
for allegedly instructing the ship to sail despite bad weather and
improper cargo procedures.

No details on how much gold the ore could contain have been released.