By Fatih Hafiz Mehmet and Muhammed Boztepe

ANKARA

At least six seamen were killed when a Panama-flagged cargo vessel sank off Turkey’s Black Sea coast on Monday, officials said.

Samsun Governor Osman Kaymak told reporters that six sailors died and seven others were rescued by the Turkish Coast Guard after the vessel went down some 80 nautical miles off the northern Samsun province.

Kaymak said 11 of the crew were Ukrainian nationals and two were Azerbaijani nationals, but gave no information on the nationality of the deceased crew members.

The rescued crew members are in good condition, he said.

Kaymak said the vessel contained 3,300 tons of coal and the captain also died when the vessel sank.

He said they are continuing efforts to retrieve the deceased sailors, but are concerned that some were unable to escape the vessel, which sank at a depth of 2,000 meters (6,561 feet). 

One rescued sailor said an unexpected wave had taken away the ship's bow, Kaymak said. 

Kaymak said a rescue boat will continue search and rescue operations.

Turkey's Coast Guard Command said the vessel was en route from Azov, Russia, to the Turkish Black Sea port of Samsun.

* Ilyas Gun, Fatih Mehmet Kurkcu and Recep Bilek in Samsun contributed to this report.