SAR Operation Underway for 10 Missing Crew After Turkish Ships Collide
Multiple Turkish agencies are assisting in a search and rescue operation looking for 10 missing crewmembers from a small Turkish general cargo ship. They suspect the vessel, Tugberk Imamoglu (4,598 dwt), sank after colliding with a Turkish-flagged product tanker in the Marmara Sea early on September 2.
Turkey’s Directorate General of Maritime Affairs reports that a signal was detected from an EPIRB device around 0330 local time on September 2. The captain of the tanker Alsu (3,338 dwt) also reported a collision with an unidentified vessel approximately 18 miles south of Silivri, located west of Istanbul on the Marmara Sea.
The authorities determined the signal was coming from the cargo ship and commenced a search. They report that the Coordination Center was unable to contact the vessel. It also attempted to call the crewmembers on their mobile phones and received no response.
Tanker Alsu was assisting in the search after colliding with the cargo ship (DGMA)
Searchers located the vessel’s free-fall lifeboat, and there was no one aboard. Other debris has also been spotted on the sea surface. A helicopter and 14 maritime search and rescue units were participating in the SAR operation along with the tanker Alsu.
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Built in 1990, the Tugberk Imamoglu is a 90-meter (295-foot) general cargo ship. It was transporting 4,200 tons of coiled steel from Iskenderun to Eregli, a port on the Black Sea. The tanker, which the authorities said was traveling empty, was coming from Kocaeli bound for Aliaga. The Alsu is a 91-meter (298-foot) product tanker. Both vessels are Turkish-owned and flagged.
There was no official comment on weather conditions or visibility issues at the time of the collision.
