20 missing after cargo ship sinks
ISTANBUL, Turkey (Reuters) -- Turkish rescue workers searched on Friday for 20 people who went missing after their ship sank in the Black Sea during a severe winter storm.
The Cambodian-flagged cargo ship sank some 7.5 miles (14 kilometers) from Istanbul's Bosphorus strait around 12:30 p.m. (1030 GMT) on Friday, maritime officials said.
They said the name or destination of the vessel, which was carrying a cargo of coal, were not immediately clear.
"We have sent out two boats. We know there were 21 crew but we have only spotted one member so far," an official told Reuters.
He said the crew was made up of two Ukrainians and 19 Bulgarians.
A blizzard lashed Istanbul and much of western Turkey on Friday, disrupting air, land and sea traffic. The Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits, key shipping channels for Black Sea states, remained closed for a second day on Friday.
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