Cargo ship is ripped in half in storm off Turkey as rescue teams search for 11 sailors from another vessel that sank with at least one killed

A cargo ship was ripped in half in a storm off the coast of Turkey as rescue teams desperately searched for 11 sailors from another vessel that sank in the choppy waters.

The Cameroon-flagged Pallada broke in two after running aground amid 16ft waves off Eregli, a coastal town east of Istanbul. All 13 crew members were rescued. 

But the weather hampered efforts to reach another cargo vessel, the Turkish-flagged Kafkametler, which sank off the same coast in Turkey's Zonguldak province with 12 crew on board. 

Rescue crews retrieved the body of one crew member from the choppy seas, as they desperately searched for the other 11 sailors.

The ship's captain had reported on Sunday morning that the ship was drifting toward a breakwater at Eregli and Yerlikaya. The vessel possibly hit the structure after that.

The region was hit by powerful storms on Sunday, and inclement weather prevented air and sea vessels from carrying out searches until Monday morning.

Yerlikaya told reporters that storms and flooding across Turkey over the weekend had resulted in the deaths of four people in the southeastern province of Batman, three people in Zonguldak and another person in Diyarbakir, also in the southeast.

Justice minister Yilmaz Tunc said prisoners were moved from Eregli's prison to surrounding facilities due to rising water levels.

Turkey's emergency agency, AFAD, earlier issued severe weather warnings for 72 of the country's 81 provinces. Turkish Airlines cancelled 105 scheduled flights from Istanbul's two airports on Sunday. Snow led to travel disruptions on the Istanbul-Ankara highway.

The private Demiroren news agency reported fallen trees, lampposts and phone poles in Zonguldak and Sakarya provinces, as well as damage to buildings.

Istanbul governor Davut Gul said 210 homes and workplaces were flooded in the Black Sea town of Sile. Wind speeds had reached up to 62 mph, he reported.

On the Marmara Sea, fishing boats moored at Esenkoy were destroyed and heavy rain led to landslides.

Meanwhile, gale-force winds, heavy rain and snow have hit large parts of neighbouring Bulgaria, claiming the lives of two people, causing severe damage and disrupting power supplies in towns and villages.

Residents in eastern Bulgaria, which was hit the hardest, said they had never before experienced such extreme weather.

A state of emergency was declared in the Black Sea city of Varna, which received torrential rain mixed with snow along with intense wind. Officials said the conditions posed risks to the population.

The mayor's office reported power disruption in all boroughs of Varna. Fallen trees and branches blocked key roads, leaving vehicles stranded. The city called on residents to stay at home and not to use their cars unless they had urgent needs. 

Varna International Airport was open but had delayed and cancelled flights, airport officials said.

Police reported that a man died on Saturday after his van hit a fallen tree on a major boulevard in the Bulgarian capital, Sofia. In Varna, a woman died after being struck by a falling tree branch.

Bulgarian meteorologists issued warnings for dangerous weather for most of the country's east on Sunday, forecasting winds gusting up to 78mph. The heavy rain was expected to turn into snow as temperatures fell.