The investigation on the case of the shipwrecked Bulgarian cargo vessel Vanessa in the Azov Sea will last for at least three months, National Investigation Service official Georgi Iliev said on Tuesday.

Bulgarian investigators are working on six versions concerning the reasons for the ship's sinking, including that business interests lay behind it, as claimed by Ukraine's Transport and Communications Minister Yosip Vinsky.

He said the vessel refused help twice in the beginning of the deadly storm on Thursday last week.

The owner of the ship probably decided to save money and ordered the crew to refuse the rescue operation, Vinsky said as cited by Itar Tass.

The minister also said that the crew were informed of the coming bad weather but despite the warning, the ship sailed off the Berdyansk port attempting to reach the Kerch Strait before the storm.

Vanessa, loaded with scrap metal, sank just about 22 nautical miles from the Gulf of Kerch on January 3.

Board Marine Burgas Company, which operates the ship, called the accusations "ridiculous" and pointed out that they did not have any information about a coming storm.

Ukrainian rescuers continue to search for survivors as only mechanic Nikolay Dimitrov of the 11 crewmembers was saved on Thursday and two dead bodies were identified later.

The expenses for transportation of the three will be covered by the ship's owner.

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