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An active phase of the search and rescue operation for missing crew members of the Dalny Vostok trawler that sank in the Sea of Okhotsk on April 2 has been halted and only passing ships will continue search for the sailors, TASS reported.

At the same time, a helicopter of the Russian Emergencies Ministry will perform a search flight on Thursday if the weather is favorable, the ministry’s Far Eastern local centre said.

"Upon the decision of the Kamchatka maritime rescue coordination sub-centre of the Russian Transport Ministry, starting from April 9 the search and rescue operation will be passive and only passing ships will carry it out," the statement said. "In spite of this decision, a Mil Mi-8 helicopter of the Russian Emergencies Ministry is due to be engaged in the search operation if the weather conditions are favorable."

Along with this, the Be-200 plane will continue evacuating bodies, injured survivors and relatives of the crew.

"As of today, 56 relatives of the trawler’s crew have arrived in the Sakhalin region," the statement said adding that the ministry’s psychologists were rendering assistance to all of them.

The Dalny Vostok trawler sank in the Sea of Okhotsk, 330 kilometres west of the village of Krutogorovsky, and 250 south of Magadan. The ship owned by the limited liability company OOO Magellan was registered in Nevelsk, the Sakhalin Region. There were 132 crew on board. According to the latest data available 56 died, 63 were rescued and thirteen remain unaccounted for.