4 killed in ship collision off Iraq's southern coast

BAGHDAD, Aug. 19 (Xinhua) -- An Iraqi ship sank on Saturday after a collision with a bigger foreign ship in territorial waters off the country's southern coast, leaving at least four sailors killed, the Iraqi Ministry of Transportation said.

The incident took place at about 8:30 p.m. local time (1730 GMT) in Khor Abdullah waterway, when the Iraqi al-Misbar ship collided with the giant foreign ship Royal Arsenal, the ministry said in a statement.

The boats of the Iraqi naval force carried out a search at the scene and found eight surviving sailors and four bodies, out of 21 crew members of the Iraqi ship, the statement said.

The naval boats are still searching for the rest of the crew members, it said.