5 Sailors Still Missing, Bulgarian Rescue Operation Continues

Dutch oil tanker "Alessandro DP" escaped with minor damage the clash. Five sailors from the other ship are still missing. Photo by Johnny Verhulst, Marinetraffic.com

The Bulgarian Border Police, Civil Defense and volunteers keep searching for survivors after the clash between two ships in the Black Sea near cape Emine.

The rescue operation will now search for the five missing sailors only along the coastline.

The two ships clashed Monday, at about 5:40 pm local time 20 km southeast of cape Emine.

The Karim 1 cargo ship, carrying scrap, and sailing under the Sierra Leone flag sank immediately after the collision. Five of its ten sailors have already been rescued.

There are minor damages to the other vessel, a much larger Dutch oil tanker "Alessandro DP." There were initial fears of a large oil spill, but the tanker was empty.

The Regional Prosecutor's Office in the Black Sea city of Burgas is probing three possible causes for the clash, the most probable of which is reckoned to be human error .

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