The vessel M/V CENK T, belonging to the Cenk Denizcilik company’s fleet and dedicated to transporting truckloads of fruit, vegetables and food supplies, came under Russian missile attack at 16:00 local time (15:00 CET) on Friday, shortly after docking in the Ukrainian port of Chornomorsk, located in the Sukhy estuary on the north-western Black Sea coast, south-west of Odessa. This is the second such Russian attack in less than a month in which a Turkish ship has been damaged.
According to the operating company in a statement reported in Turkish media, the attack caused a fire on board the roll-on/roll-off cargo ship, which covers the route between Karasu (Turkey) and Odessa (Ukraine). Tugboats, port fire crews and the crew immediately intervened to try to control the flames after the impact.
“Following the attack, a fire broke out in the bow of the vessel, and tugboats, port fire-fighting units and crews immediately intervened and continue to do so. So far, there are no reports of casualties or injuries. Based on current information, the damage is only material. The incident is being assessed within the framework of international maritime regulations and we are following the process in close cooperation with the competent authorities,” Turkish shipping company Cenk Denizcilik said in the statement.
From Kiev, Ukrainian Minister of Restoration Oleksiy Kuleba said on Telegram that “Russia launched a missile attack on civilian port infrastructure in the Odessa region”, adding that “A Turkish-flagged ferry was damaged in the Black Sea port, with no casualties”. Kuleba said, however, that an employee of a private company was injured in a separate attack on the port of Odessa.
3 Turkish ships damaged in Russian attack
A spokesman for the Ukrainian navy confirmed to various agencies that a total of three ships were damaged in the missile attack, all of them Turkish, without giving further details. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that “this shows once again that Russia not only does not take the current opportunity for diplomacy seriously enough, but continues the war precisely in order to destroy normal life in Ukraine“.
The moment of the impact on the Turkish ship docked in the port of Chornomorsk was recorded second by second by the mobile phone camera of a Turkish crew member, who was at the time on another ship.
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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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