Cargo ship sinks in Sea of Azov, at least 3 dead

(Updates with search pausing, sailors still missing)

SOFIA/KIEV, Jan 3 (Reuters) - A Bulgarian cargo ship with 11 crew on board sank in rough weather in the Sea of Azov on Thursday, drowning at least three seamen, rescue officials said.

The ship sank near the narrow Kerch Strait, between the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea, where a dozen vessels, some carrying oil products, went down or were damaged in a storm in November.

One Bulgarian seaman was rescued alive, Russian news agencies reported, but efforts to save more crew from the vessel, called the Vanessa, were hampered by stormy conditions, and rescuers ceased for the night.

Interfax agency reported the rescued sailor as saying he saw four crew managing to reach a life raft, raising hopes more would be found alive.

But conditions overnight are expected to worsen, with winds of up to 24 metres (yards) per second and waves up to 5 metres tall, according to a Ukrainian weather agency.

Ukraine's Emergencies Ministry said three bodies had been found. Russian rescue headquarters in the port of Novorossiisk put the figure at four, RIA news agency reported.

"Four bodies have been recovered, a fifth man is alive but suffering from frostbite," RIA quoted a Russian official as saying.

The crew consisted of 10 Bulgarians and one Ukrainian.

The Ukrainian ministry said the vessel, carrying almost 3,000 tonnes of steel, issued an SOS call at 2 a.m. (midnight GMT). It was heading for the Bulgarian Black Sea port of Bourgas, said Nikolai Apostolov, head of Bulgaria's coastguard administration.

Russian officials ordered a safety review after reports that some of the ships caught up in the November storm had ignored a bad weather warning.

The accident resulted in a large fuel oil spill from a river barge. Russian officials estimated the damage at $267 million. (Reporting by Anna Mudeva in Sofia, Sabina Zawadzki in Kiev and Maria Kiselyova in Moscow; Editing by Michael Winfrey)