Russian rescued after 67 days adrift near Pacific

Russian authorities said on Tuesday they had rescued a man whose tiny boat drifted for 67 days since August in waters edging the northwestern Pacific, but his brother and nephew died during the ordeal. 

Images posted on social media showed a thin, bearded man wearing a hooded jacket and orange emergency vest in a catamaran-like sailboat flying a red flag from a small pole.

"On October 14, a vessel was discovered in the waters of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk," legal authorities in Russia's Far East said on the Telegram messaging app, referring to waters that sprawl over 1.58million sq km.

"Two people died, one survived," added the regional prosecutor's office charged with handling transport issues. "He is receiving medical assistance."

The boat with the man and bodies aboard was finally sighted by fishermen near the village of Ust-Khayruzovo, off the coast of the Kamchatka peninsula, the post added.

Authorities did not immediately identify the voyagers.

Russia's SHOT Telegram channel said the boat was found about 1,000km from its initial destination.

The legal authorities said two men, accompanied by the 15-year-old son of one, set sail on August 9 from a cape in Khabarovsk Krai in the region, headed for the town of Okha on Sakhalin island.

"After a while, contact with them was lost, their location remained unknown," they added.

The Baza Telegram channel close to Russia's security services said the survivor, aged 46, was taken to hospital in serious condition, after his 49-year-old brother and the teenager had died while adrift.

A month-long search after the boat went astray proved unsuccessful, it added.