U.S. sailors missing after tanker sinks

The identities of the two sailors were not released, pending notification of relatives.

A statement issued Sunday by U.S. Naval Forces Central Command headquarters in Bahrain said the tanker, named Samra, sank at about 4:45 a.m. local time Sunday (8:45 p.m. Saturday EST) in the northern Gulf. It did not say what caused the ship to sink but officials said there was no indication of hostile action.

In Washington, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz indicated that the sinking was accidental. Details were sketchy.

He described the tanker as rusty and said it had been intercepted as part of a long-running U.S.-led international maritime interdiction operation designed to enforce the U.N. oil embargo against Iraq.

"It is as a reminder that at the same time we are conducting a war in Afghanistan we have military (personnel) engaged in Bosnia and in Kosovo and in Iraq and in Korea. The world remains a dangerous place – not just in Afghanistan," he said on CBS' "Face the Nation."

The tanker had been boarded by U.S. sailors because it was carrying an estimated 1,700 metric tons of Iraqi oil in violation of the embargo. officials said. The tanker had a crew of 14 Iraqis. Ten Iraqis were recovered alive after the tanker sank; one Iraqi was found dead, and three were missing.

In addition to the two American sailors missing, six others were recovered alive, officials said.

The U.S. sailors had boarded the tanker from the USS Peterson, a destroyer whose home port is Norfolk, Va.

AP-WS-11-18-01 1113EST