A cargo ship sank in strong weather off the coast of Turkey in the Black Sea, leaving one crew member dead and eleven others missing, Turkish officials said on Monday.The ship was travelling to the port of Izmir in western Turkey.
After striking a seawall outside the harbor near the town of Eregli, around 200 kilometers (124 miles) east of Istanbul, the Turkish-flagged vessel Kafkametler drowned on Sunday.
The Turkish Ministry of Transport reports that at 10:29 am (0729 GMT), the Kafkametler vessel put out a distress call. The ship was drifting towards a breakwater off Eregli, according to the captain’s most recent correspondence with the authorities.
According to Abdulkadir Uraloglu, Turkey’s minister of transportation and infrastructure, the ship struck the breakwater many times before it sunk.
Prior to this, rescue teams were on standby, waiting for the weather to clear up before starting a rescue operation, according to Turkey’s interior minister Ali Yerlikaya.
Yerlikaya stated, “Unfortunately, we were unable to conduct search and rescue operations for the 12 Turkish crew members.” “Search and rescue efforts will start right away as soon as the situation improves.”
Ferrosilicon was being transported by cargo ship from the Turkish port of Aliaga to the Russian port of Temryuk. The violent storms that struck northwest Turkey on Sunday resulted in extensive damage and disruption, including the evacuation of a jail and the breaking up of another cargo ship, according to media sources.
According to the Maritime General Directorate, the Pallada, flying the flag of Cameroon, ran aground in 5-meter (16-foot) seas off Eregli and split into two pieces. The 13 crew members were safely rescued.
Severe storms struck numerous areas of Turkey on Sunday. In the southeast regions of Diyarbakir and Batman, flooding brought on by heavy rainfall is said to have killed four people.
The floodwaters also caused injuries to almost fifty more people. Two people who died were reported next to Bulgaria on Sunday as a result of the extreme weather.
