At least two Bulgarian sailors were killed and eight were missing and feared dead after a cargo ship sank during a storm in the Sea of Azov, officials in Sofia said Thursday, according to dpa. One crew member, the ship's second mechanic, was rescued from the icy water and was en route to a Russian hospital, Bulgarian Transport Minister Petar Mutafchiev said. The rest of the crew, including a Ukrainian national, were missing, Mutafchiev said, insisting that Bulgaria wanted to join the probe into the accident, which may have been caused by overloading. The crew may have pulled on their thermal suits, but it was unclear how long they could survive in the water that was just a few degrees above freezing point, he said. The ship Vanessa, operated by Board Marine Burgas Company, went down in the early morning hours after listing in the northern end of the Kerch Strait, some 20 kilometres from land. It had been en route from the Ukrainian port Berdyansk to Varna, Bulgaria, transporting iron.
