Two crew members of a sunken Russian refrigerated cargo vessel were still missing, the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry said on Sunday.

The vessel, heading to the Far Eastern city of Manily, sank at around 1:15 p.m. Moscow time (0915 GMT) on Sunday in the Sea of Okhotsk off Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula.

Earlier reports from the Emergency Situations Ministry said that all eight crew members on board were rescued, but latest information showed there were actually 10 people on the ship.

"Eight sailors were picked up from life rafts. The fate of two other crew members is unknown ... A search operation is underway," the ministry said.

According to the ministry, one of the missing sailors, born in 1969, was believed to have "remained on the sunken ship."

Two fishing boats and an Mi-8 helicopter were involved in the rescue operation.

The 30m-long cargo ship was carrying a load of 49 tonnes. The wind speed in the region was 11 meters per second when the accident occurred.

The cause of the shipwreck remains unclear, and an investigation has been launched.