Rescue teams have been trying to locate at least six sailors missing after the sinking of a cargo ship off the coast of the Sea of Marmara, in northwestern Turkey, this morning. Emergency services received a distress call at around 6:32 local time (4:32 CET) from the vessel “Batuhan A”, a 59-metre long ship which had left Marmara Island with 1,200 tonnes of marble dust on board and was heading for the port of Gemlik, on the coast of the Turkish province of Bursa.
According to Turkish authorities, the ship sank off the coast of the island of İmralı, some 60 km south of Istanbul. The governor of Bursa, Mahmut Demirtaş, confirmed that emergency services had received a distress call from the vessel but that it was subsequently lost. Two coastguard teams from Bursa along with a third from Balıkesir province – where the island of Marmara is located – were sent to the possible sinking area.
The governor noted however that the search and rescue efforts for the missing sailors are being hampered by bad weather, with waves up to 3 metres high and strong winds that are preventing helicopters from taking part in the rescue operation at sea. Turkish media reported that the six crew members are probably Turkish citizens and that one of them could even be the owner of the local company that operated the ship; and what’s more, this same ship suffered an accident three years ago when it ran aground off the coast of Çanakkale, and the crew had to be rescued after two days.
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Edited and reviewed by:
Pablo Gómez is a specialist in Turkey and has been editor-in-chief of Hispanatolia since 2011. He has been analysing current affairs and geopolitics in Turkey and the surrounding region since 2006.
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