Soviets Jail 2 Captains for 15 Years for Black Sea Collision that Killed 400

Two Soviet sea captains were convicted of safety violations and were each sentenced to 15 years in prison in the Soviet Union’s worst maritime disaster--a Black Sea collision last August that killed at least 400 people, the news agency Tass said Monday.

The Soviet Supreme Court in Odessa, on the Black Sea, also levied a $60,000 fine against the captains of the cruise ship and cargo ship that collided Aug. 31 “in payment for the damage they caused the state.”

“Taking into account the special gravity of the crime and grave consequences of the tragedy,” Tass said, the two captains were given the maximum 15-year prison sentence.

The verdict in the trial, which began March 12, was virtually a foregone conclusion after a government inquiry into the disaster concluded that both captains were guilty of gross breaches of maritime safety regulations.

Vadim Markov, 56, captain of the luxury liner Admiral Nakhimov, and Viktor Tkachenko, 44, captain of the cargo carrier Pyotr Vasev, were stripped of their commissions after the disaster.