Moscow, April 3 (IANS): The Russian defence ministry on Friday rejected media reports that the Russian trawler tragedy in the Sea of Okhotsk that claimed 56 lives was due to a collision with a submarine.

"All the information spread by some mass media and social networks that the cause of the shipwreck in the Sea of Okhotsk of the trawler 'Dalniy Vostok' could have been a collision with a Russian submarine is false," TASS news agency quoted the ministry’s spokesman, Igor Konashenkov, as saying.

He stressed that "at the moment of the tragedy there were no submarines of the navy in this area of the Sea of Okhotsk".

The 'Dalniy Vostok' freezer trawler capsized in the Sea of Okhotsk 330 km west of Krutogorovsky settlement in Russia’s far eastern Kamchatka peninsula and 250 km south of the city of Magadan on Thursday2. The trawler was owned by Magellan LLC and its home port is Nevelsk in the Sakhalin region.

Meanwhile, a spokesman of the emergencies ministry said on Friday the 'Dalniy Vostok' sank to a depth of 250 metres in the Sea of Okhotsk.

"The 'Dalniy Vostok' vessel is at a depth of 250 metres," he said.

The search for shipwreck victims has been suspended till Saturday.

A source in the Far Eastern sea port of Vladivostok told TASS earlier that the trawler had capsized and sank on April 2 because it was seriously overcrowded, with 70 people not listed on board.

There were 132 crew members on board, including 78 Russians and 54 foreigners. As of now, 13 fishermen are being treated as missing. So far, 63 people have been rescued while the toll has been placed at 56.