Firefighters carry the body of one of the victims after the 86-meter-long (290-foot) Turkish ship Gokbel went down after colliding with the 97-meter-long (320-foot) Belize-flagged Lady Aziza, at the Marina di Ravenna harbor, Italy (AP Photo/Marco Vasini)

Two people drowned and four were missing at sea and feared dead after two merchant ships collided in rough seas off the Italian coast yesterday.

A Turkish ship with 11 crew members sank after the collision with a vessel carrying a Belize flag in poor visibility a mile from the Italian Adriatic port of Ravenna.

Ravenna mayor Fabrizio Matteucci said that the dead and missing were all Turkish men from the ship Gokbel, which sank after the collision with the Belize-flagged Lady Aziza.

"There are two victims and four missing," he said, adding that he had received the latest information from the coastguard leading the rescue operation, which was hampered by "prohibitive" sea conditions and fog. The names of the dead and missing have not yet been released.

Earlier on Sunday the coastguard said one person was dead and two missing, and they were trying to save four people they had located in the sea.

Five members of the Turkish ship were rescued and are in good condition and there were no casualties among the crew of the other ship, Matteucci said.

Irish Independent