MOSCOW: Seventeen fishermen were missing and feared dead on Monday after a Russian trawler capsized during a storm and sank in the freezing waters of the Barents Sea. Officials said that two people had been rescued by a passing vessel, but hopes were quickly fading that more survivors could be found during a snowstorm over the Arctic waters.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday expressed "deep condolences" to the families of the victims and offered "words of support" for the survivors.

"It is with sorrow that I learnt of the tragedy," Putin said in a statement released by the Kremlin.

Speaking at a government meeting earlier in the day, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin tasked officials with providing relatives of the victims with necessary help.

"A tragedy struck today in the Barents Sea," Mishustin said. "People died," he added, without providing further details.

Officials said that a search-and-rescue operation was underway but that poor weather conditions had complicated the task.

"There is a heavy snowstorm, waves are up to four meters high and temperatures are at around 20-25 degrees Celsius below zero," Alexei Barinov, spokesman for the emergencies ministry in the northwestern region of Murmansk, told AFP.

"We are hoping for a New Year's miracle," he added.

However a source familiar with the details of the search efforts told AFP that there was little hope of finding survivors.

"A person cannot last for more than 15 minutes in these conditions," the source said.