Malta assists in search for missing crew

The Armed Forces of Malta's rescue coordination centre yesterday coordinated a search in the eastern Mediterranean for the 17-man crew of a Comoros-registered freighter which sank in rough seas 325 miles south-east of Malta.

The Kephi, carrying cement, sent out a distress signal at 2.30 a.m. after taking in water in one of its holds. It eventually sank.

The AFM said the freighter's second officer was rescued by the US military sealift command vessel Merlin and a second crewman was rescued by the Russian vessel MV Yuri Savinov.

A third vessel, the Dutch-registered MV Ocean Klipper, was also in the area.

A Greek Air Force C-130 Hercules search aircraft was deployed and more air and sea assets were on their way.

The AFM said weather conditions in the area were extremely bad and hampering the search.

Quoting the Greek Merchant Marine Ministry, Reuters reported that the Greek-owned cargo ship, which had left Istanbul bound for a West African port with a 17-member mostly Egyptian crew, sank in gale-force winds.

US and British-flagged ships responding to the Mayday, sent out by the Kephi itself, spotted only one lifeboat with two crew members aboard, the ministry said.

"The weather conditions in the area are atrocious. The captain of the US vessel had a lot of trouble approaching the lifeboat where the two people were in. That's why in the end he only managed to get the one out," a Greek Merchant Marine spokesman said.

A Greek Merchant Marine spokesman said no further survivors had been found by early evening but the search would continue for another 72 hours. "There is always the possibility that some survivors could be drifting in lifeboats," he said. But the search effort is being hampered by the bad weather.

Strong winds, high waves and a sandstorm brought shipping in the Suez Canal to a halt as authorities shut the waterway linking the Mediterranean and Red Sea. A number of Egyptian ports were also closed.

Turkey closed its Bosphorus and Dardanelles shipping channels to Russian oil tankers and all other vessels due to extreme currents and low visibility. Dozens of oil tankers were queued for passage, Turkish maritime officials were quoted by Reuters as saying.