Seven rescued from sinking ship

A cargo ship collided with a tanker and sank off an island near the Greek capital, leaving an unknown number of seamen missing, authorities said today.

Seven sailors were rescued, and three helicopters and coast guard vessels were involved in a search for the missing off the resort island of Hydra, near Athens, the Merchant Marine Ministry said.

It did not identify the vessels involved in the accident.

Hydra mayor Constantinos Anastopoulos said the rescued sailors were Turkish.

“The vessel that sank was the cargo ship Mina, after it struck the Greek tanker, Agios Artemis,” Anastopoulos told private Alpha television.

“The weather is good, which will help the rescue effort, but I can’t understand how this happened,” Anastopoulos said.