Ship collision off Israeli coast kills two sailors

JERUSALEM, Aug 31 (Reuters) - Israeli forces retrieved the bodies today of two sailors declared missing off the coast of Haifa after an Israeli freighter sank following a collision with a Cypriot cruise ship, the army said.

The forces had rescued 11 crew from the ''Shelly'' cargo vessel, which sank in yesterday's collision. Israeli media said they were mostly Indonesian and Ukrainian and were en route to Cyprus. Israel Radio said the men who died were from Slovakia.

''Navy divers are retrieving the bodies of the missing,'' an Israeli army spokesman said. ''The divers dived to a depth of 20 metres (65 feet) to complete the task''.

The some 700 passengers and crew of the cruise ship, which Israeli media said was called ''Salamis'', were unharmed by the collision near the northern port of Haifa and the vessel remains docked.

Israeli authorities are investigating the cause of the collision. Israeli officials speculated a problem in the cruise ship's navigation system may have been to blame.

''A passenger ship was sailing out of the harbour and at the entrance of the port, about three kilometres out, hit a docked vessel,'' said Brigadier-General Ram Rutberg, commander of a navy base in Haifa whose forces are involved in the rescue efforts.

The identities of the cargo vessel's crew members are unknown, Rutberg said. The Israeli freighter was damaged and sank, he added.

REUTERS GL VC1418