A rescue vessel is expected to reach a refrigerator...

The rescue ship is expected to enter the area after 6:00 Moscow time [3:00 GMT].

"After examining the refrigerator rescuers would decide on whether it could be repaired in the sea or should be towed to a port," the source said.

The Smolninsky vessel signaled its distress 220 km off the village of Nogliki in the Sea of Okhotsk on Friday. According to preliminary reports, there were 30 crew members and 11 passengers on board, all of them Russians. The passengers were evacuated by a Mi-8 helicopter early on Saturday.

YUZHNO SAKHALINSK, January 24 (RIA Novosti)