Ten die in shipwreck

Eight sailors and two rescue divers were killed when a North Korean-registered cargo ship broke up and sank in heavy storms off the Algerian coast, state radio said yesterday.

Rescue services and coast guard officials aided by helicopters rescued 14 of the 22-member crew of the Lujin II, after the 121-metre vessel hit a reef. It had been heading to the port of Bejaia 250 km east of Algiers.

The survivors, from Romania, Lebanon and Syria, have been taken to local hospitals in the region. Two Algerians died in the rescue operation.

The ship's main engine stalled and began drifting early on Monday when it was hit by storms and eight-metre-high waves in the Mediterranean sea near Algeria's 335,000-barrels-per-day oil refinery port Skikda.