Two years ago, on the morning of 3 August 2007, the Italian oceanographic research vessel Thetis was operating in shallow waters, some eight kilometres off the west coast of Sicily, near the port of Mazara-del-Vallo. The scientists and engineers working on board Thetis were testing new oceanographic equipment designed for use in a joint Russian-Italian project. Amongst these was 53-year-old Peter Mikheichik, a leading engineer at the Oceanographic Measuring Systems Laboratory of VNIRO, the All-Russian Federal Research Institute of Fishery and Oceanography.
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