Israeli rescue forces search for missing sailors

JERUSALEM, Aug 31 (Reuters) Aided by helicopters, Israeli rescue forces searched off the northern port of Haifa today for two sailors from an Israeli freighter that collided with a Cypriot cruise ship.

Israeli forces pulled 11 of the 13 crew from the ''Shelly'' cargo vessel out of the sea unharmed after the collision yesterday. Israeli media said they were mostly Indonesian and Ukrainian and were en route to Cyprus.

The Israeli freighter sank and officials said they feared the missing sailors may have gone down with it.

''There is always a chance and at this stage, the search for them continues,'' head of Haifa's coastguard Felix Cohen told Israel Radio.

All of the 700 passengers and crew of the Cypriot cruise ship ''Salamis'', which had sailed from Cyprus, were rescued and the vessel remains anchored, Cohen said.

The collision occurred a little over a mile from the coast and its cause is being investigated. Israeli officials speculated a problem in the cruise ship's navigation system may have been to blame.

REUTERS GL BST1141