PETROZAVODSK, August 1. /TASS/. Visitors from St. Petersburg who embarked on a kayaking trip have disappeared in the White Sea in Russia’s northwestern Karelia Region. Ten kayakers were expected to return to the mainland on July 29, but no contact has been established with them since then, the Russian Emergencies Ministry’s regional department said.

"Contact has been lost with a group of ten tourists in Belomorsk. They last got in touch on July 24, and their trip should have ended by July 29," the ministry’s press service said.

The tourists who were travelling in five canoes told rescuers on July 24 that they were aware of the storm and had enough food and drinking water to pull through the tough weather conditions.



Relatives of the missing tourists told the Emergencies Ministries that they may have been waiting for the weather to improve on one of the islands.

Currently, wind gusts along the sea are severe. The search operation will begin as soon as weather permits.