TEHRAN -- Five Iranians were killed two weeks ago when their cargo vessel went down in a storm off the Qatari coast in the Persian Gulf, an official in Shiraz said on Sunday.

Abolfazl Sharif, the Deputy Head of the Chamber of Commerce of Shiraz, said that the vessel was ferrying 240 tons of masonry, valued at $60,000, when it was struck by a storm.

The bodies of those killed in the storm were pulled out from the waters by Qatari coast guards, Sharif said on the fringes of a conference on the promotion of non-oil exports.

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