Cargo ship sinks off Greece, all crew safe, coast guard says

ATHENS, May 6 (Reuters) - Greece has rescued all nine members of the crew of a cargo ship that ran aground and sank off the island of Andros early on Wednesday, the country's coast guard said.

The freighter had sailed off Albania with hundreds of metric tons of soda on board and was bound for Ukraine when it hit rocks off the island of Andros and sank, an official from the Greek coast guard told Reuters on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the media.

Two crew members were rescued from the sea and seven more from a rocky area on Andros, the official said, adding that the sailors had been taken to the island's clinic.

It was not immediately clear what caused the accident.

The captain of the ship said there were no other crew members missing, the official said.

There were no visible signs of pollution from the ship but the coast guard will deploy a sea barrier preemptively, the coast guard official said.