A towboat with 14 crew members sank in the Laptev Sea some 20 nautical miles from the shore early Friday morning, Russian Far East emergencies said. Three people have been rescued alive.

The Alexei Kulakovsky towboat sent a distress call before sinking.

The captain and two sailors were rescued alive after a tanker nearby rushed to the scene following the distress call. The rescued were in good health condition.

The emergency authorities had sent two vessels and a Mi-8 helicopter to the scene to rescue the crewmembers.