Crew rescued after ship with cargo of baking soda sinks off Greece

Greece has rescued all nine crew members of a cargo ship that hit rocks and sank off ​the South Aegean island of Andros early on Wednesday, a ‌coast guard official said.

The Vanuatu-flagged freighter, with a crew of one Azerbaijani and eight Turkish nationals, had left Albania with 3,000 metric tons of baking soda on ​board and was bound for Ukraine when it sank off ​Andros, the coast guard official said.

It was not immediately clear ⁠what caused the vessel, which was identified as the Corsage C ​by authorities, to run aground. A preliminary investigation has been launched into ​the incident, a government official said.

Two anti-pollution coast guard vessels and another two carrying anti-pollution equipment have preemptively deployed a floating sea barrier as authorities are concerned about ​potential fuel leakage, Greek shipping ministry officials said.

Greek coast guard footage ​showed a small boat deploying yellow floating booms at sea near the Andros shoreline ‌to ⁠help contain any pollution from the stricken ship.

The vessel's Turkey-based operator could not immediately be reached for comment.

The rescue operation was launched after the ship issued a mayday call at around 0100 GMT reporting that it ​had run aground ​and was taking ⁠in water.

Greece deployed three coast guard vessels and a helicopter, while a passenger ship was tasked with locating ​the sinking freighter, the officials said.

Two crew members were ​rescued ⁠from the sea and seven from a rocky area on Andros, the coast guard official said, adding that they had all been taken "in good health" ⁠to ​the island's clinic.

Turkey's foreign ministry did not immediately ​respond to a request for comment.

- Reuters%MCEPASTEBIN%