On the night of October 9-10, in the Azov Sea, off the coast of the Kerch Strait, the hull of the Turkish ship NILA, which was carrying three thousand tons of coal from the port of Azov in the Rostov region (Russia) to the port of Giresun (Turkey), cracked.
The Head of the project Maidan of Foreign Affairs Andryi Klimenko informed on the incident on Facebook.
According to him, due to the cracks water began to flow on board the ship.
Klimenko noted that there were 11 crew members onboard the cargo ship, of which 10 were from Ukraine and 1 from Azerbaijan.
After the incident, 7 crew members were evacuated.
The cargo ship, accompanied by the tug Mercury, was heading either to the port of Kavkaz or Kerch, Klimenko added.
Russian Interfax reported on damage to the dry cargo ship off the coast of the occupied Crimea, citing its sources. However, it is noted that the vessel is “assigned to the port of Lomé” (African country of Togo).
“The ship is leaking; it was anchored. The crew is engaged in repairing the damage on their own, no distress signal was given, they refused help. The coast guard boat is on duty,” the newspaper writes.
Earlier, in February 2018, the Turkish cargo ship under the Moldovan flag crashed near the shores of the occupied Crimea. The hull of the vessel was damaged.
Three hull breaches below the waterline were discovered. There were about 48 tons of diesel and motor oil on board. The vessel was towed to a closed bay to avoid ecological disaster. Fuel and oil was pumped out.
Previously, in 2017, the Anda cargo ship sailing under the flag of Togo crashed in neutral waters near the Crimea.
Source: Interfax
QHA
