CARACAS - Six missing Filipino sailors have been found dead in a Greek-flagged ship that caught fire off the Venezuelan coast, the head of the Venezuelan navy said Friday.

Admiral Carlos Aniasi said the bodies of the 6 Filipino sailors and three Greek officers of cargo ship Aegan Wind were found by their crewmates "in various sections" of the ship.

Aniasi told state television station VTV that he received the information from the captain of the Greek cargo ship.

"We do not know the circumstances of their deaths, whether they were asphyxiated or whether they were burned," the navy chief added.

The Philippine foreign affairs department has yet to confirm the fate of the 6 Filipino sailors.

Greek and Venezuelan officials said after the blaze that six Filipino sailors and three Greek officers were missing.

Five other crewmembers who sustained injuries were evacuated by helicopter to Porlamar on the Venezuelan island of Margarita, according to Manuel Reinger of the island's civil protection force.

The blaze broke out just after 4:00 a.m. and spread from the engine room throughout the ship, which at the time was 33 nautical miles (56 kilometers) southeast of Blanquilla island in the Caribbean Sea off northeastern Venezuela.

Officials said there was an apparent malfunction in the fire system of the vessel. They said there were 24 crewmembers aboard -- nine from Greece and 15 from the Philippines.

Ten crew members remained on the ship, but Venezuelan emergency personnel were unable to reach them due to rough weather conditions, reports said.

The Aegean Wind,0 which was transporting iron ore from Brazil to the US port of Houston, Texas, is owned by Atlantic Bulk Carriers, based in the Greek port of Piraeus, near Athens. – Report from Agence France-Presse