Cargo ship sinks off Turkey, 10 crew members missing

A dry cargo ship sank off the Black Sea coast of Turkey on Tuesday and 10 members of the 12-strong Polish crew on board are missing, Turkish media said. The Cambodian-registered Vera dry cargo ship was travelling from Russia to the Turkish Aegean port of Aliaga and sank in a storm 1 mile off the coast of the Black Sea port of Zonguldak, CNN Turk said.

Two crew members had been saved and taken to hospital, the television channel said, but coast guards and police were still searching for 10 more who had been on board. Turkey has been hit by extreme weather and snow storms over the past week. There were gale warnings on Tuesday for parts of the Marmara, Black Sea and Aegean, a shipping agent said.

The Bosphorus Straits, a key shipping route passing through the city of Istanbul, was closed to all vessels on Tuesday due to poor visibility caused by a snowstorm, coast guard officials said.    

(Writing by Jon Hemming)