Bulgaria's transport minister says a Ukrainian ship has sunk in the Black Sea and rescuers are searching for survivors.
Petar Mutafchiev says the Ukrainian ship Tolstoy, sailing under the North Korean flag, sank 15 miles off Bulgaria's coast. It disappeared from radars at 4 a.m. (0100 GMT) on Saturday and all crew were missing.
He said that the boat did not give a distress signal and there was no information about the number of crew on board.
Bulgarian air force choppers were searching the area. Military and commercial ships have joined a rescue operation complicated by strong winds.
Bulgarian port officials said the 5,000-ton Tolstoy was carrying a cargo of scrap metal to the Turkish port of Nemrut. |