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The bodies of 19 foreigners who died as a result of the recent sinking of the Dalniy Vostok fishing trawler in the Sea of Okhotsk are being sent home by plane on Wednesday, a representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk told RIA Novosti, Sputnik reported.

"In the evening, at about 18:00 local time [08:00 GMT] the bodies of 16 citizens of Myanmar and 3 citizens of Vanuatu will be sent home with a charter flight," the representative said.

The Dalniy Vostok fishing freezer trawler sank in the Sea of Okhotsk shortly before midnight on April 1. There were 132 people on board the vessel, including 54 foreigners. Rescue teams lifted a total of 119 people from the water, 57 of them had died. Twelve people are still missing, but the authorities of the Sakhalin Region have declared 5 of them dead.

A criminal case has been opened and an investigation into the accident is underway. There are over 10 possible theories as to why the Dalniy Vostok trawler sank, but, according to acting Sakhalin governor Oleg Kozhemyako, the accident was likely caused by the crew's failure to comply with safety regulations.