Two dead, 8 missing in Sea of Azov ship incident
SOFIA, Jan 4 (Reuters) - The bodies of two sailors have been recovered and eight seaman were missing on Friday, a day after a Bulgarian cargo ship sank in rough weather in the Sea of Azov, Bulgaria's transport ministry said.
One Bulgarian sailor was rescued alive after the incident in the narrow Kerch Strait, between the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea near Russia and Ukraine, where a dozen vessels went down or were damaged in a storm in November.
The ministry denied Thursday's reports that three or four seamen were dead. The boat's crew consisted of 10 Bulgarians and one Ukrainian.
"Two bodies were recovered yesterday, one seaman was rescued alive," a ministry spokeswoman said.
Winds up to 25 metres (yards) per second halted rescue operations on Thursday night and disrupted them again on Friday afternoon, the Bulgarian transport ministry said in a statement.
Bulgarian state news agency BTA quoted the rescued sailor as saying he saw some of his colleagues reaching a life raft, wearing protective emergency suits.
Ukraine's Emergencies Ministry has said the vessel, carrying almost 3,000 tonnes of steel, issued an SOS call at 2 a.m. (midnight GMT) on Thursday. It was heading for the Bulgarian Black Sea port of Bourgas.
Bulgaria's transport ministry has launched an investigation into the accident.
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 November incidents resulted in a large fuel oil spill from a river barge. Russian officials estimated the damage at $267 million. (Reporting by Anna Mudeva; Editing by Caroline Drees)
