TEHRAN - An Iranian cargo ship sank off the Iraqi coast on Thursday night, Iran's Ports and Maritime Organization (PMO) announced on Friday.

"The ship, which was carrying ceramic and constructional materials to Iraq's Umm Qasr Port and had left (Iran's southwestern port city of) Khorramshahr on Tuesday, sank last night in the Khor Abdullah maritime canal," Nourollah Asadi, the director-general of Iran's Bushehr Province' Ports and Maritime Department, was quoted as saying by Tehran Times daily on Friday.

In the incident, two crew members died, four were rescued, and some others are missing, Nader Pasandeh, the PMO director for marine safety, told semi-official Mehr news agency on Friday.

Operations are underway to find the missing crew, he said.