Turkish cargo ship hit by mine off Romanian Back Sea coast
A Turkish-flagged cargo ship struck a mine in the Black Sea off the coast of Romania and suffered minor damage. The crew is safe, and the ship resumed its navigation, according to maritime and security sources.
The ship hit a maritime mine 11 nautical miles north of Sulina, Romania, near the entrance to the Sulina Channel, according to the British maritime security company Ambrey cited by News.ro.
"It appears the vessel experienced an explosion around 09:20 GMT (12:20 Romanian time). The vessel anchored briefly to assess the damage," Ambrey representatives stated. "At 12:10 (15:10 Romanian time), the vessel resumed its navigation," they added.
This is the first incident in several months where a ship has struck a maritime mine. The Black Sea region has been classified as a high-risk area by insurers, and floating mines remain a danger.
A Ukrainian government source confirmed that a ship had hit a mine, adding that it was "likely a mine from World War II or landing mines left there last year," refusing to provide further comments.
Yoruk Isik, the head of the consultancy firm Bosphorus Observer, confirmed to Reuters that the ship is named Kafkametler and suffered minor damage to a ballast tank, but added that the crew is safe. The Istanbul-based ship operator, Kafkametler Maritime, could not be immediately reached for comments, according to Reuters.
The incident comes after Russia withdrew in July from a UN-backed agreement that allowed Ukraine to transport grain through a safe maritime corridor in the Black Sea. Since then, Ukraine has established its own temporary "humanitarian corridor" for cargo vessels, and several ships have left Ukrainian ports in the Black Sea starting in August, sailing as close as possible to the territorial waters of Romania, Bulgaria, and Turkey.
A British government official recently warned that Russia could potentially use maritime mines to target civilian maritime traffic in the Black Sea, to discourage trade with Ukraine.
In response, Romanian, Bulgarian, and Turkish military vessels and helicopters have patrolled the Black Sea shipping lanes within the country’s territorial waters searching for drifting mines. Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine until now, Romanian naval sailors and divers have neutralized five sea mines originating from the northern Black Sea, according to the Romanian Naval Forces.
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