MOSCOW, Dec. 18 (UPI) -- A Russian oil rig being towed in the far eastern Sea of Okhotsk overturned Sunday, killing at least four people and leaving 49 others missing, officials said.
Russia's Transport Ministry told Prime news agency there were 67 people aboard the Kolskaya drilling rig, 53 of them crew members and 14 support staff.
Emergency officials said 14 people had been rescued and the search for the 49 missing was continuing in the rough seas 125 miles off Sakhalin Island, the RIA Novosti reported.
Unidentified transportation officials reportedly questioned why the rig was being towed during a severe storm, the report said.
There was no threat to the environment from the accident, emergency personnel said.
The rig is 225 feet long and 260 feet wide and was built in Finland in 1985, the report said. It is capable of drilling down 11,500 feet and was sub-contracted out to Russia energy giant Gazprom, RIA Novosti said.
