SOFIA, Sept 28, 2008 (AFP) - Two Ukrainians on board a raft have been picked up Sunday by a yacht a day after a Ukranian ship sank off Bulgaria's Black Sea coast in bad weather, Bulgaria's transport ministry said.

But Bulgarian and Turkish authorities could not confirm whether the men were part of the 10 missing crew members from the 5,000-tonne Tolstoy, said Nikolay Apostolov, the head of the maritime department.

Rescue teams were specifically alerted Sunday to two survivors of the Ukrainian ship on a raft after one of the men, Andrei Ivanovich Krijanovski, telephoned his mother Saturday night who then alerted Ukrainian authorities.

The Tolstoy had been carrying a cargo of scrap metal to the Turkish port of Nemrut with a team of nine Ukrainian sailors and a Russian captain.

The accident has been blamed on bad weather conditions.