Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya announced that rescue teams are searching for a ship crew consisting of six people, after the ship sank early Thursday morning in the Sea of Marmara, northwest of Istanbul.

Yerlikaya wrote on the "X" platform that the coast guard sent boats and a plane to locate the ship's crew, which is believed to have sunk due to bad weather.

The Meteorological Authority had warned of heavy rainfall in the Marmara region until Friday.

The ship, loaded with marble, was on its way from Marmara Island to the Gemlik port in Bursa province, according to what Bursa Governor Mahmut Demirtaş announced on the "X" platform.

He added that the ship sank around six twenty in the morning local time (0320 GMT) today, Thursday, about ten hours after leaving the port.

Meanwhile, the Turkish Anadolu news agency quoted Demirtaş as saying it is believed that the ship's crew members are Turks.