Bulgarian rescue services have not found any survivors from the Sierra Leone ship, Karim 1, which sunk off the coast of Cape Emirne in the Black Sea on the afternoon of November 29 2010.
A Bulgarian Air Force helicopter was dispatched to assist in the rescue.
The maritime administration, Bulgarian air force, Bulgarian navy and merchant vessels were trying to find the five men missing. Of them, there were reports that two might have been killed on impact as they were sleeping at the back of the ship where the collision between Karim 1 and a Dutch tanker occurred.
But neither them, nor three others expected to have survived the crash, have been found. A surface search has now been called off while authorities continue to thread the seabed and the shoreline.
The collision on November 29 is believed to have been triggered by improper manoeuvring, according to Sergei Tsuriakliiski, executive director of Maritime Administration. At fault is believed to have been the ship that sank. The two vessels collided at about 5.40pm local time
Karim 1 had 10 crew members on board, nine of them from Syria and one from Egypt. Five men were rescued, but five remain unaccounted for.