SOFIA, Sept 28: Two Ukrainians on board a raft were picked up on Sunday by a yacht a day after a Ukrainian ship sank off Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast in bad weather, Bulgaria’s transport ministry said.

But Bulgarian and Turkish authorities could not confirm whether the men were part of the 10 missing crew members from the 5,000-ton Tolstoy, said Nikolay Apostolov, the head of the maritime department.

Rescue teams were specifically alerted on Sunday to two survivors of the Ukrainian ship on a raft after one of the men, Andrei Ivanovich Krijanovski, telephoned his mother on Saturday night who then alerted Ukrainian authorities.—AFP