Russian intelligence ship sinks off Turkey's Black Sea coast: authorities
ISTANBUL (Reuters) - A Russian naval intelligence ship sank off Turkey's Black Sea coast on Thursday after colliding with a vessel carrying livestock and all 78 personnel on board were evacuated, Turkey's coastal safety authority said.
The ship, identified as the Liman, collided with the Togo-flagged Youzarsif H, the authority said on its website.
The collision was caused due to fog and low visibility, the Turkish shipping agency GAC said. It occurred 18 miles (29 km) from Kilyos village on the Black Sea coast just north of Istanbul, broadcaster NTV said.
Turkish authorities dispatched a tugboat and three fast rescue vessels, the coastal safety authority said.
Advisers to Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim conveyed his sadness over the incident to Russian counterparts, according to sources in his office.
No information was immediately available about the state of the Youzarsif H, or its crew or cargo. The Togo-flagged livestock carrier was built in 1977 and has a capacity of 2,418 tonnes, according to Thomson Reuters shipping data.
It is managed by Nejem Co. Marine Services, according to the data.
It was not clear whether either vessel was headed to the Bosphorus Strait from the Black Sea.
The Bosphorus, which cuts through Istanbul, is one of the world's most important waterways for transit of oil and grains. The 17-mile waterway connects the Black Sea to the Mediterranean.
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Russian Navy reconnaissance ship sinks after collision in Black Sea
Published time: 27 Apr, 2017 11:39Edited time: 27 Apr, 2017 14:39
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FILE PHOTO: Russian Navy's reconnaissance ship sails in the Bosphorus © Murad Sezer / Reuters
A Russian Navy reconnaissance ship has sunk after colliding with another vessel near the Bosporus, the Russian Defense Ministry reported.
The hull of ‘the Liman,’ a 1,560-ton reconnaissance ship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, was breached below the waterline in the collision, the Defense Ministry said.
The Turkish coast guard said it rescued 78 people from the Russian ship, which was later confirmed by the Russian authorities.
“All crew members of the research ship of the Black Sea Fleet are alive and well and are currently preparing for evacuation from the Turkish rescue ship to a Russian ship,” the Defense Ministry said.
According to the Defense Ministry, ‘the Liman’ collided with another ship, ‘Ashot-7,’ about 40km northwest from the Bosporus Strait.
Media identified the other ship involved in the collision as the Togo-flagged livestock carrier ‘Youzarsif H.’
Advisers to Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim spoke to their Russian counterparts on Thursday to convey Ankara's sadness over the collision, according to Reuters. The Russian cabinet office said a phone call between Yildirim and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev was scheduled for later in the day.
‘The Liman’ was built during Soviet times in Poland and commissioned in 1970. It is mostly unarmed, but carries a radar station, a hydroacoustic detector and other reconnaissance equipment needed to track surface ships and submarines.
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April 27 2017 12:56 PM
A Russian navy reconnaissance ship has sunk off Istanbul after colliding with a freighter in the Black Sea.
All 78 personnel on board the Liman are accounted for after it collided with the Togo-flagged freighter Youzarsif H.
The Turkish safety authority said 15 Russian sailors were rescued after the collision.
The freighter was carrying livestock, and all of its crew is safe.
A hole was punched in the starboard side of the Liman during the collision, which occurred around midday on Thursday about 25 miles north-west of the Bosphorus Strait.
The cause of the collision was not immediately clear.
The Liman was part of the Black Sea Fleet. The Interfax news agency reported that it spent much of the winter in the Mediterranean off the coast of Syria and returned to the Black Sea to monitor NATO exercises in February.
The rescued Russian sailors are all aboard a Turkish rescue vessel and will be picked up by a nearby Russian cargo ship, the Ulus Star, the Russian defence ministry said.
It said the cargo ship would deliver the sailors to the home base of the Black Sea Fleet, which is on Crimea, the peninsula Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
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