SOFIA, Bulgaria, Jan. 4 At least seven sailors died when a Bulgarian cargo ship sank in a wind storm in the Azov Sea adjoining the Black Sea, Russian authorities said.
Russian and Bulgarian rescuers in ships and helicopters searched the area Friday for the three sailors who were still unaccounted for, the Bulgarian Sofia News Agency reported. One sailor was rescued.
The Bulgarian Vanessa ship, with a crew of 11 -- 10 Bulgarians and one Ukrainian -- sank Thursday morning at the Russian-Ukrainian maritime border in the Kerch Strait, Serbia's radio-television RTS reported quoting Russian officials.
The Vanessa was carrying Russian iron to the Bulgarian Black Sea port of Burgas.
The storm that sank the Vanessa affected land travel, too. Highways leading from central Bulgaria to the Black Sea coast were blocked by snowdrifts, leaving hundreds of vehicles stranded. The two major Black Sea ports, Varna and Burgas, were closed to sea traffic.
More than 300 villages and towns across Bulgaria were left without electricity and more than 30 villages had no tap water.
Copyright 2008 by UPI
