Cargo ship heading from Russia sustains leak in Sea of Azov, says Russian port agency

LONDON (Reuters) - A Liberia-flagged cargo ship carrying corn from a Russian port to Turkey is trying to stop water leaking in after sustaining a crack in the Sea of Azov earlier this week, Russia's port agency said.

The vessel, Pavel Grabovskiy, was loaded with 2,939 tons of corn. It was sailing to Turkey from the Russian port of Rostov when it contacted Russia's marine rescue centre in Taman, close to the Sea of Azov, on Sunday saying a crack had been discovered on the starboard side, and that water was entering the ballast tank, Russia's state agency for ports, Rosmorport, said in a statement.

Rosmorport's statement, which was issued on Thursday, said water was being pumped out of the damaged ballast tank and additional equipment for water pumping was expected to be delivered.

"There are no casualties, no oil spills, and no pollution of the surrounding waters," Rosmorport said in the statement sent to Reuters on Friday.

It was not clear what had caused the crack in the vessel which was built in 1979, shipping data showed.

The vessel's operator Turkey-based Vi-Za Star Shipping declined to comment on Friday when contacted.

Russia has ordered military divers to inspect ships in its ports, a government letter seen by Reuters showed, after suspected attacks on four oil tankers that visited terminals in recent weeks.

Three oil tankers around the Mediterranean, and another off western Russia, have been damaged by blasts in the last month.

All four had recently called at Russian ports, ship tracking data and shipping sources said.

(Reporting by Jonathan Saul, Gleb Stolyarov, Can Sezer and Renee Maltezou; Editing by Susan Fenton)