ANKARA:Turkey’s Transport and Infrastructure Minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu confirmed on 24TV that the Turkish tanker Altura was attacked of...
ANKARA:Turkey’s Transport and Infrastructure Minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu confirmed on 24TV that the Turkish tanker Altura was attacked off his country’s Black Sea coast.
TASS has compiled key details about what is known.
Incident
- The Turkish tanker Altura flying the flag of Sierra Leone came under attack 24 km off the Bosphorus Strait in the Black Sea.
- The tanker sustained damage to its bridge from an explosion, and the engine room took on water.
- The vessel was carrying 140,000 tons of oil.
- The captain requested assistance from the Coast Guard.
- Coast Guard speedboats and an emergency response vessel are working at the scene.
- None of the crew has been injured, with 27 Turkish nationals on board being in good health.
Vessel
- The tanker was bound from Russia, NTV reported.
- According to Marinetraffic, the vessel was travelling from Novorossiysk to Istanbul.
Turkey’s response
- Turkey’s Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Abdulkadir Uraloglu confirmed that the Altura Turkish oil tanker was attacked off the country’s Black Sea coast.
- According to him, an explosion occurred near the engine room.
- The vessel was attacked by what could have been an uncrewed boat.
- The authorities have dispatched all necessary resources to the scene and are closely monitoring the situation, the minister said.
Russia’s reaction to intensified incidents at sea
- On Wednesday, the Maritime Board, chaired by Presidential Aide Nikolay Patrushev, announced additional measures to safeguard vessels registered under the Russian flag or departing from Russian ports.
- Ship owners working with Russia have been given detailed instructions to seek assistance from the Navy, Patrushev said.
- Monitoring of cargo ships carrying freight for Russia has been tightened.
- Moscow will use all available instruments to guarantee respect for the principle of freedom of navigation in response to EU raids at sea, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told a news briefing.
Previous attack on a Russian vessel
- On March 3, the Russian Transport Ministry said that the Russian LNG tanker Arctic Metagaz had been attacked with Ukrainian uncrewed speedboats in the Mediterranean.
- The incident took place in close proximity to Malta’s territorial waters.
- The tanker carrying 100,000 cubic meters of liquified natural gas lost propulsion and was left without power, as a fire and a gas explosion also occurred, Zakharova said.
- Two sailors were injured as the entire 30-member crew survived.
- The crew of the damaged Russian LNG tanker Arctic Metagaz were adrift in the Mediterranean in a rescue boat for 15 hours following the attack, captain Andrey Zelensky told reporters.
- According to him, assistance came from Russian, Maltese, and Libyan rescue teams.
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