Maersk

The captain of the Maersk Tigris cargo ship seized by Iranian authorities is a Bulgarian citizen, the Foreign Ministry in Sofia said on Wednesday.

Bulgaria's ambassador in Tehran has sought a meeting with Iranian authorities over the seizure of the ship as well as detailed information about the state of the Bulgarian citizen, according to the Foreign Ministry.

Four Romanian sailors are on board of the Maersk Tigris, the cargo ship that was seized by the Iranian authorities in the Persian Gulf, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE) informed in a press release.

Photo credit: (c) Michael Kooren / REUTERS

The Foreign Ministry has no official information on Bulgarian citizens, who were aboard the cargo ship, which was seized in Iran on Tuesday.

This was announced by the spokesperson of the ministry Betina Zhoteva in an interview for private NOVA TV on Wednesday.

Iran has detained a cargo ship with citizens of Bulgaria, Myanmar, Romania, and the UK on board in the Strait of Hormuz.

A Bulgarian captain was in command of the vessel which was sailing under the Marshall Islands' flag, Bulgarian media outlets report citing AFP news agency.

By Nikos Roussanoglou

The subject of the first clash within the government appears to be the country?s main ports ? specifically the privatization of the port authorities of Piraeus and Thessaloniki.