A cargo ship was ripped in half in a storm off the coast of Turkey as rescue teams desperately searched for 11 sailors from another vessel that sank in the choppy waters.

The Cameroon-flagged Pallada broke in two after running aground amid 16ft waves off Eregli, a coastal town east of Istanbul. All 13 crew members were rescued.

But the weather hampered efforts to reach another cargo vessel, the Turkish-flagged Kafkametler, which sank off the same coast in Turkey’s Zonguldak province with 12 crew on board.

Rescue crews retrieved the body of one crew member from the choppy seas, as they desperately searched for the other 11 sailors.

The ship’s captain had reported on Sunday morning that the ship was drifting toward a breakwater at Eregli and Yerlikaya. The vessel possibly hit the structure after that.

The region was hit by powerful storms on Sunday, and inclement weather prevented air and sea vessels from carrying out searches until Monday morning.

Source: Daily Mail