Ship traffic through the Istanbul Strait, also known as the Bosphorus, was suspended on Sunday, October 11, after a tanker suffered an engine failure and drifted towards the shore in the Kanlıca neighbourhood on the city's Asian side.
The vessel, the 110-metre Malta-flagged chemical tanker Ivyan, was carrying around 6,000 tons of vegetable oil on a voyage from Varna in Bulgaria to Monopoli in Italy, according to Türkiye's General Directorate of Coastal Safety.
Anchor stops drift near historic mansions
After losing engine power during its transit, the tanker drifted towards the shore near the Kanlıca ferry pier, an area lined with historic wooden waterfront mansions known as yalıs. Footage filmed by residents showed the ship coming to a halt at the last moment as it approached the coastline.
The crew dropped anchor, which stopped the drift and prevented the ship from making contact with the shore. No injuries or damage were reported.
The Coast Guard and the Coastal Safety directorate dispatched the rescue tugs Kurtarma 7 and Kurtarma 11 and the lifeboat Tahlisiye 9. With a pilot captain on board and coordination from the Istanbul Vessel Traffic Services Centre, the tanker was escorted to the Küçükçekmece anchorage area in the Sea of Marmara. Traffic through the strait reopened after the tanker had been moved.
The directorate attributed the incident to engine failure. A more detailed official statement on the cause and the condition of the ship was still awaited.
A narrow and busy waterway
The incident came days after another accident in the strait: on October 7, the excursion boat Bosfor struck a yacht moored off Vaniköy in Üsküdar and then hit the pier of a historic yalı.
The Bosphorus, which divides Istanbul between Europe and Asia and links the Black Sea with the Sea of Marmara, is one of the world's busiest and most difficult waterways to navigate. Strong currents and sharp bends, combined with dense commercial and passenger traffic, mean that authorities routinely suspend traffic when large vessels lose power or steering.
Passage of merchant ships through the Turkish straits is governed by the 1936 Montreux Convention, which guarantees freedom of transit in peacetime, while Türkiye manages navigational safety through its vessel traffic services system.
Sources
- Ship traffic suspended in Istanbul Strait after tanker suffers engine failure
- Bosphorus traffic resumes after near miss involving chemical tanker
Photo: Ein Dahmer / CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
