Two crew members of an Iranian cargo ship sank off the Iraqi coast Thursday night have died and two others, including an Indian national, are still missing.
According to Iranian news agencies, late on Thursday the ship which was carrying a load of 850 tons capsized and sank in Khawr Abdullah Canal between Iraq and Kuwait. The accident has been attributed to bad weather as well as the age of the ship and the weight of its cargo.
The five-decade-old and 500 ton Behbahan was carrying ceramic tiles and other construction materials to Iraq's Umm Qasr Port.
Director-General of Khorramshahr Port and Maritime Organization on Friday said despite the bad weather there is a chance that the missing sailors can be found because the search area in the territorial Iraqi waters is not big. Iran has now received the permission of the Iraqi government to conduct its own search and rescue operation, Nurollah As'adi said.
According to Mehr News Agency, the Khorramshahr Port and Maritime Organization has also announced that a video published by the media as footage of the sinking ship is not authentic and belongs to another ship that sank in Kuwaiti waters three years ago.