Turkish and Greek ships collide

A Turkish sailor has died and five others are missing after two ships collided in the Aegean Sea near the Greek island of Hydra.

Seven sailors were rescued from the water after a Turkish-operated cargo ship collided with a Greek tanker.

The cargo ship, the Panama-flagged Han, sank after the collision. Navy ships and rescue helicopters are searching the area for the missing crew.

A Greek official said the cause of the collision was being investigated.

"All members of the crew of the Greek tanker are safe and the tanker has also rescued seven crew members from the cargo ship, all of them Turks," the official from the Greek Merchant Marine Ministry told Reuters news agency.

The rescued crew members had been flown to an Athens hospital for medical check-ups, she said, but the search operation had not yet found any of the missing sailors.

"This is a pretty large rescue operation," she said.

Dispute

"The weather is good, which will help the rescue effort, but I can't understand how this happened," Hydra Mayor Constantinos Anastopoulos told local media, the Associated Press news agency reported.

The day-time crash occurred in an area known for heavy shipping traffic.

The Han was carrying iron from Turkey to Casablanca, Morocco, while the tanker, the Alios Artemis, was transporting gasoline from the Greek mainland to Crete, AP said.

The incident comes only a week after Greek and Turkish F-16 fighter jets crashed into the southern Aegean Sea after colliding in mid-air.

The Greek pilot was killed, while the Turkish pilot was rescued after ejecting safely.

The two neighbours have a long-standing territorial dispute over the Aegean.