Two helicopters of the Azerbaijani Ministry of Emergency Situations and a patrol vessel of the State Border Service were sent to the scene of the incident.

The rescue operation is underway, the Azeri website further added.

Reuters further reported that Azerbaijan has rescued nine people abroad the vessel.

The cargo ship is named by the IRNA news agency as ‘Shabahang.’ The cause of the incident is yet to be known.

The ‘Shabahang’ is a general cargo ship built in 1993, which has recently been hauling cargo between the Iranian port of Bandar-e Anzali and Russia’s Astrakhan, according to traffic records.

A maritime official based in the northern Iranian province of Gilan said the ship was carrying around 950 tons of tiles and ceramic products when it drowned.

Ali Khedmatgozar told the IRIB News that the ship was privately owned and staffed by seven Iranian and two Indian sailors when it began drowning. He added that all members of the crew had been rescued by the Azerbaijani authorities.

The official would not definitively say what had caused the incident but hinted that the ship had been fighting waves of up to three meters before sinking.

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The incident had no casualties, but three crew member were reported to have sustained injury. There were 14 crew members on board, all of whom of foreign nationalities, according to Director General of Ports and Maritime of Hormozgan, Afifipour, who was speaking to MNA correspondent a few hours after the incident.

The cargo ship was carrying 153 containers of Iran’s mineral and industrial goods, including potassium chloride, calcium carbonate, copper concentrate, industrial oil, and regulators. The ship was also carrying two containers of pistachios.

According to an official, the capsizing may be the result of lack of coordination between the ship’s officer and the contractor for loading and unloading.

Meanwhile, Afifipour told MNA that the causes of the accident are being investigated by a team of experts from the coastal disasters reconnaissance committee.

Operations to rescue the containers are underway.

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