[Updated] Coast Guard and Bulker Collide in Bosphorus

Three Turkish Coast Guard personnel were killed on Wednesday after their vessel collided with a bulk carrier in the Bosphorus strait, forcing officials to temporarily suspend traffic in the busy shipping lane.

Their vessel capsized after colliding with the Tolunay, a Cook Island-flagged bulk carrier, which was sailing toward the Black Sea, shipping agent GAC said.

Four members of the Coast Guard were in hospital, a spokesman at the Istanbul governor's office said.

The collision occurred at 8:40 a.m. (0540 GMT) at the southern end of the strait, it said, adding that traffic was halted until 2:30 p.m. and has resumed.

On Tuesday, the general cargo ship Volodimyr Sharkov suffered steering gear failure in the Bosphorus Strait. The vessel was entering the strait from Marmara Sea en route to Port of Kherson in Ukraine, when one of the rudder pumps blocked and the ship lost steering. There were no injured people and no pollution, and traffic in the strait was not affected.

Also on Tuesday, the bulk carrier Ephesus III collided with the anchored bulker Alexandros Theo at outer Istanbul anchorage. The accident happened after the Ephesus III passed through the Bosphorus Strait in southern direction. The ship maneuvered to leave separation scheme, but due to technical problem collided with anchored bulker. The collision happened at slow speed, and both vessels suffered slight damage, without underwater breaches or water ingress.

More than three percent of the global crude supply - mainly from Russia and the Caspian Sea - pass through the 17-mile Bosphorus that connects the Black Sea to the Mediterranean.