Relatives are begging emergency workers to step up efforts to evacuate 15 Russian sailors trapped for a week on a tsunami-damaged vessel in Japan's Ofunato port.

A Russian rescue ship has arrived to pick up the sailors off the wrecked Khrizolitovy refrigerator vessel but was refused permission by Japanese authorities to enter the port.

The Japanese say changes in the port's seabed make it dangerous for navigation.

Last Friday's 9.0-magnitude earthquake in northeastern Japan triggered a 10-meter tsunami that wreaked extensive destruction and claimed thousands of lives.

During the tsunami, the Khrizolitovy was torn from its dock and thrown inland. It was then carried back out into the port where it is now adrift.

MOSCOW, March 18 (RIA Novosti)