List of maritime incidents in the Turkish Straits

The list of maritime incidents in the Straits is a listing of major maritime casualties occurred in the Istanbul and Çanakkale Straits in Turkey. Shipping accidents are not only a major threat to the maritime environment but also to human life in the high populated areas around the Straits.

The Straits are today one of the major and busiest but also the most critical seaways in the world.

Istanbul Strait

The Strait of İstanbul is a narrow "S-shaped" channel of complex nature with several sharp turns and headlands, which prevent a proper look-out, and with changing currents. Such geographical and oceanographic conditions make the navigation, open to international shipping, very difficult and risky.

The density of maritime traffic in Bosporus, which link Black Sea to Marmara Sea, has increased eleven-fold from around 4,400 ships passing annually in 1936, when Montreux Convention was signed to regulate transit and navigation in the Straits, to an average of 48,000 vessels per year recently. With 132 vessels transit daily, not including local traffic, it ranks second to Malacca Straits in density.

During the period from 1953 to 2002, 461 maritime incidents occurred in the Istanbul Strait or in its southern entrance at the Marmara Sea. The majority were collisions. [ [http://64.233.183.104/search?q=cache:7aeHzphsmmgJ:www.blackmeditjournal.org/pdf/2006_vol12_no3-5.pdf+1991:+Rabunion+Madonna+Lili&hl=tr&ct=clnk&cd=11&gl=tr&client=firefox-a 403 Forbidden ] ]

* December 14, 1960 – Yugoslavian flagged M/T "Petar Zoranić", carrying gasoline, collided with the Greek tanker M/T "World Harmony" at Kanlıca Point. 20 ships officers and crew died, both masters included. 18,000 tons of oil spilled and caused pollution. Fire lasted for some weeks and suspended transit traffic. The Turkish vessel "Tarsus" collided into the "Zoranić" and burnt with it.

* September 15, 1964 - Norwegian flagged vessel "Norborn" contacted the wreck of "Petar Zoranić" at Kanlıca Point. Fire broke out and oil spilled.

* March 1, 1966 – Two Soviet flagged vessels M/T "Lutsk" and M/T "Cransky Oktiabr" collided at Maiden's Tower Point. 1,850 tons oil spilled, caught fire and caused the Turkish passenger ferryboat "Kadıköy" and the ferry boat terminal of Karaköy burn completely.

* July 3, 1966 – Turkish passenger ferryboat "Yeni Galatasaray" collided with lumber carrying Turkish coaster "Aksaray". 13 people died in the following fire.

* November 18, 1966 – Turkish passenger ferryboat "Bereket" hit the Romanian flagged "Ploesti". 8 people drowned.

* July 1, 1970 – Italian vessel "Ancona" ran ashore and caused the downfall of a building under construction. 5 people died.

* December 27, 1972 – Two Turkish vessels, the passenger ferryboat "Turan Emeksiz" and the cargo ship M/V "Sönmezler" collided. 5 people died.

* April 21, 1979 – Romanian flagged vessel M/V "Karpat" collided with the Turkish ship M/V "Kefeli". 11 people died.

* November 15, 1979 - Romanian registered M/T "Independenta" collided with Greek ship M/V "Evriali" at Haydarpaşa Point. 43 people died in the exploding Romanian tanker. 94,600 tons of crude oil spilled and the following fire lasted weeks.

* April 2, 1980 – Greek ship M/V "Elsa" collided with the Soviet vessel M/V "Moskovosky". 2 people died.

* November 9, 1980 - British vessel "Nordic Faith" collided with Greek flagged ship "Stravanda". Fire broke out.

* September 24, 1985 – Turkish Navy fast attack boat TCG "Meltem" collided with a Soviet Navy war ship. "Meltem" sunk and 5 Turkish marines died. [ [http://www.milliyet.com.tr/1999/01/23/haber/hab00.html Newspaper "Milliyet" January 21, 1999] tr icon]

* October 29, 1988 – Maltase registered ammoniac carrier M/T "Blue Star" contacted the Turkish crude oil tanker M/T "Gaziantep", which was on anchor at Ahırkapı Point. 1,000 tons ammoniac spilled in the Marmara Sea.

* March 25, 1990 – Iraqi tanker M/T "Jampur" carrying gasoline collided with the Chinese flagged bulk carrier M/V "Da Tung Shang" at Sarıyer Point. 2,600 tons of oil spilled from "Jampur" and caused severe pollution.

* November 14, 1991 - Philippines flagged M/V "Madonna Lily" collided with the Lebanese flagged live stock carrier M/V "Rabunion XVIII" at Anadoluhisarı Point. 5 people died. 21,000 sheep drowned in the Romanian vessel sunk and their corpses caused a major pollution.

* March 13, 1994 – Crude oil carrier M/T "Nassia" collided with the bulk carrier M/V "Shipbroker", both Cyprus registered. 27 people lost their lives. 9,000 tons of petroleum spilled and 20,000 tons burnt four days long affecting the marine environment severely. Traffic in the Strait was suspended for several days and "Shipbroker" burnt totally.

* December 29, 1999 - Russian tanker M/T "Volganeft-248" grounded at Florya Point with 4,000 tons of fuel-oil on board and split into two pieces. 1,500 tons of oil spilled to the sea. Clean-up operation of the contaminated recreational beaches took about two years.

* October 7, 2002 - Maltase vessel M/V "Gotia" stranded at Bebek Point. 22 tons oil spilled causing environmental damage to the boats in the marina and the structures at the waterfront. [ [http://www.turkishpilots.org.tr/ingilizcedernek/majoracc.html Some of the major casualties in the Strait of Istanbul during the past years] ]

* November 10, 2003 - Georgian flagged cargo ship GGC " Svyatoy Panteleymon" ran aground off Anadolufeneri and broke into two pieces. Around 500 tons of oil spilled and caused pollution. [ [http://balwois.mpl.ird.fr/balwois/administration/full_paper/ffp-746.pdf The Effect of the Dense Maritime Taffic On the Bosporus Strait and Marmara Sea Pollution ] ]

Çanakkale Strait

* April 4, 1953 - Turkish Navy submarine TCG "Dumlupınar" collided with the Swedish flagged freighter M/V "Naboland". "Dumlupınar" sunk taking 81 of 86 submariners into the depth. [ [http://www.tudav.org/turkish%20straits-tudav.pdf Turkish Maritime Research Foundation] ]

hipwrecks

The number of shipwrecks as of 2000 within the Turkish Straits is following:
* 23 in the Istanbul Strait
* 3 in Marmara Sea
* 9 in the Çanakkale Straittotaling to 34.

References