Ships collide in Haifa bay; 2 sailors missing

Sixteen of the medium sized freighter's sailors fell overboard as result of the impact, which caused the freighter to sink. Fourteen were pulled out of the water by rescue teams alerted to the scene and evacuated to Haifa's port in good medical condition. Two sailors are still missing.

Head of Haifa's naval police unit commander Felix Cohen said, "We saw the passenger ship standing still and at a distance of 50 meters we saw the freighters mast that sunk immediately. The air was full of the smell and the sailors that were in the water refused to evacuate without their missing comrades."

Cohen added that it was a very sad and difficult incident. "We will keep searching for the missing with the help of the navy and the port workers until we find them."

Haifa bay. Rescue mission in progress (Photo: Eran Bar)

The crewmembers of the freighter, owned by Caspi Shipping, are all of Indonesian and Slovakian nationality.

One of the ship's officers, Mandeta Ayur of Indonesia, told Ynet that the collision occurred around 10 pm while he was sleeping.

"I suddenly heard screaming, I went up to the deck and saw the other ship right in front of us, a moment before the collision. We all put on life vests and jumped into the water. We were there for almost 20 minutes before we were rescued. We are still waiting to hear what happened with two of our friends." 

None of the cruise ship's crew or passengers was injured in the collision.  

The Israel Navy took charge of the collision scene, sending ships, launching a helicopter and calling in the divers' unit, to assist in the search and rescue operation.

Haifa bay administration officials told Ynet the collision was caused by faulty piloting on the Greek ship's part.  

Hanan Greenberg and Sharon Roffe-Ofir contributed to this report