Ship sinks on Bulgarian Black Sea, 6 missing

A total of six sailors are missing as a cargo ship sank Monday evening in the Black Sea 10 miles southeast of Cape Emine, local authorities said.

According to the Bulgarian Ministry of Transport, the Sierra Leone cargo ship collided around 5:40 p.m. (1540 GMT) with an empty Dutch flagged chemical tanker.

While the collision caused the cargo ship to sink some 30 minutes later, little damage was done to the tanker and there was no risk of pollution.

The cargo ship, "Karim 1", loaded with 2,600 tons of scrap and having 10 people on board, an Egyptian citizen and 9 Syrian, was traveling from Varna to the Bosphorus. Four of them were rescued, the other six are missing, the Transport Ministry said.

The tanker, "Alexandro DP", was traveling to Varna.

Sergey Tzarnakliyski, head of the maritime administration, told reporters the cause of the accident was not clear up to now. However, according to the initial data, it was a wrong maneuver during the passing of the two vessels.

Source: Xinhua