Russians have found the wreck of the vessel M/V "Nikolai Roerich" - video

On Russian diving forums yesterday information appeared about finding the wreck of the vessel M/V “Nikolai Roerich”, which sank in 1991. Unfortunately, at the moment the announcements are quite laconic and probably detailed data will appear only in the coming days. Nevertheless, the video footage taken during the dive on the wreck is certainly worth watching.

The finding of the sunken vessel is the result and culmination of 11 years of searching in the waters of Lake Ladoga, the largest lake in Europe, located near St Petersburg. The discovery was made by two divers – Mikhail Manayenkiov and Mikhail Seluyanov, from the vessel “Odyssey-2”.

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Russian divers conducted two dives. During the first, they examined the located object to confirm their assumptions about the name. The next dive allowed them to collect more detailed photo-video documentation and a more detailed look at the wreck of the vessel “Nikolai Roerich”.

The wreck lies at a depth of about 40 metres, where it has settled evenly on its keel on the sandy bottom of the lake. Twenty-five years under water have not particularly nibbled at the sunken ship. The vessel looks almost perfect. From the information made available by the divers, we know that practically all doors, portholes and hatches are tightly closed.

Although the depth is not significant, as the explorers point out, the diving is extremely demanding and the conditions very difficult. Due to the very low temperature and dark waters, it is not possible to conduct efficient exploration on air. Therefore, although the depth seems small, the exploration of the wreck requires experience in technical diving.

M/V “Nikolai Roerich” is a wreck of the vessel of class “Kirovets” (PTR-50). In 1984-1994, it was built at the shipyard in Astrakhan. First the Kirov SSZ, Astrakhan, USSR, and later the AO “Astrakhanskaya Sudoverf”, Astrakhan, Russia. In total as many as 117 of them were built, and they served mainly as floating refrigerators. The ships of this design were 31.85 metres long and 27.80 metres wide.

“Roerich” was built in 1985 and belonged to the Valaam National Nature Reserve, in Karelia. It finished its service in the autumn of 1991, when as a result of a strong storm it sank in the northern part of Lake Ladoga. All crew members who were on board on that fateful day were rescued.

The search for the vessel lasted as long as 11 years, because the captain died in tragic circumstances several years later and the coordinates of the wreck site were lost. Two dives to the wreck have been carried out in recent days, video footage of which can be found above. In turn, we also know that the explorers are planning another expedition for July 2019.

Source: soviet-trawler.narod.ru, БОРЕЙ. Русское Подводное Снаряжение