Two people died and ten were rescued after the Russian cargo ship Volgo Balt 179 sank in the Black Sea off Romania in stormy weather early Thursday, news reports said.
Romanian offshore services company GSP Offshore said that its GSP Falcon offshore vessel had received a distress call from the cargo ship at 4:40 a.m.
GSP said that the rescue operation began in difficult weather conditions with strong wind and high waves.
„The last message sent by „Volgo Balt 179” was the abandonment of the ship. So far, 10 sailors have been rescued. They are safely on board the GSP Falcon. Two people died. At the same time, another person is being searched for,“ GSP Offshore said.
The cargo ship, which had been en route to the Romanian port of Constanta, sank 70 nautical miles off the coast in the Black Sea, most likely due to the storm, the Romanian Agency for Saving Lives at Sea said.
The Romanian agency sent a ship to the area, but rescue efforts were hampered by high waves and winds.
The ship’s crew comprised 13 people, „12 men and a woman, all Ukrainian citizens.”
„Ten rescued people are in the hospital of the GSP Falcon ship and are receiving all the necessary care. One crew member has not been found so far. The rescue operation continues,” GSP Offshore said.
The company said it would transport the rescued sailors to Constanța, at the end of the rescue operations.
There was no immediate word on what the ship was carrying or what the purpose of its trip was.
