Ship traffic through Istanbul’s Bosphorus was halted in both directions on Tuesday evening while a tanker damaged in a drone attack was towed through the strait, Demirören News Agency (DHA) and Ihlas News Agency (İHA) reported.
The vessel is the M/T Golden Sapling, a 147.8-metre chemical tanker sailing under the Hong Kong flag. According to the reports, it was hit by an armed drone in August and later ran aground off Samsun on Türkiye’s Black Sea coast. DHA said the attack took place in Russia, while İHA said it happened in the Black Sea; neither gave an exact location or date.
Towed to İzmir for scrapping
The tanker passed through the Bosphorus on tow, escorted by two tugboats of the Coast Safety General Directorate (KEGM), Kurtarma 8 and Kurtarma 11. The news site Herkes Duysun named the towing vessel as the open-sea tug Aras Salvor and the tanker’s operator as the Singapore-based Chem Pool Management.
After the transit, the tanker is to be taken to Aliağa in İzmir province, İHA reported. Herkes Duysun said it would be scrapped and recycled at the Öge ship recycling facility there.
Timing not given
The reports said two-way transit traffic was suspended for the duration of the tanker’s passage, but did not say when the closure started or when traffic resumed. The passage was filmed from the air, DHA reported.
Earlier on Tuesday, heavy rain and wind disrupted ferry services in Istanbul and flooded parts of Şile. For more on the city, see our guide to living in Istanbul.
Sources
- İstanbul Boğazı gemi trafiğine kapatıldı (DHA via Karar)
- İstanbul Boğazı gemi trafiğine kapatıldı (CNN Türk/DHA)
- Dron saldırısına uğrayan tanker için İstanbul Boğazı kapatıldı (İHA via Haber Expres)
- Karadeniz’de dron saldırısına uğrayan tankerin geçişi nedeniyle İstanbul Boğazı trafiğe kapandı (Herkes Duysun)
Photo: Ein Dahmer / CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
