A cargo ship loaded with construction material sunk off Oman's southern coast, though all 20 sailors aboard the vessel were saved.

The Royal Oman Police on Sunday posted pictures online of sailors on a boat after being rescued by local fishermen, their substantial sinking ship slipping beneath the waves of the Arabian Sea.

Police and Oman's Transportation and Communications Ministry said that the boat sank off the coast of Lakabi, a town some 620 kilometres southwest of Muscat.

غرق سفينة تجارية تحمل العلم التنزاني في المياه الإقليمية العمانية قُبيل ميناء اللكبي بولاية الجازر بعد قدومها من الشارقة متجهةً إلى أرتيريا. pic.twitter.com/7TkgZzzUk2 — شرطة عُمان السلطانية (@RoyalOmanPolice) September 3, 2017

The ministry in a statement carried by the state-run Oman News Agency said seawater poured into the ship through a leak, sinking it.

The ministry said the Tanzanian-flagged ship was heading from the United Arab Emirates to Eritrea in East Africa.