List of maritime incidents in the Turkish Straits
Encyclopedia
The list of maritime incidents in the Turkish Straits is a listing of major maritime casualties that occurred in the Bosphorus and Dardanelles
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.
These two Straits are today among the busiest and most critical seaways in the world.
The density of maritime traffic in Bosphorus, which link Black Sea
to Marmara Sea, has increased elevenfold 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.
s as of 2000 within the Turkish Straits is as follows (totaling 35):
Dardanelles
The Dardanelles , formerly known as the Hellespont, is a narrow strait in northwestern Turkey connecting the Aegean Sea to the Sea of Marmara. It is one of the Turkish Straits, along with its counterpart the Bosphorus. It is located at approximately...
Straits in Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
. 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.
These two Straits are today among the busiest and most critical seaways in the world.
Bosphorus
The Bosphorus 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 Bosphorus, which link Black Sea
Black Sea
The Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean...
to Marmara Sea, has increased elevenfold from around 4,400 ships passing annually in 1936, when Montreux Convention
Montreux Convention Regarding the Regime of the Turkish Straits
The Montreux Convention Regarding the Regime of the Straits was a 1936 agreement that gives Turkey control over the Bosporus Straits and the Dardanelles and regulates military activity in the region. The Convention gives Turkey full control over the Straits and guarantees the free passage of...
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.
- December 14, 1960 – YugoslaviaYugoslaviaYugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
n flagged M/T Petar Zoranić, carrying gasoline, collided with the GreekGreeceGreece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
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 - NorwegianNorwayNorway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
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 KaraköyKaraköyKaraköy, the modern name for the ancient Galata, is a commercial neighborhood in the Beyoğlu district of Istanbul, Turkey, located at the northern part of the Golden Horn mouth on the European side of Bosphorus....
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 RomaniaRomaniaRomania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
n flagged Ploesti. 8 people drowned.
- July 1, 1970 – ItalianItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
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 HaydarpaşaHaydarpasa, IstanbulHaydarpaşa is a neighborhood within the Kadıköy district on the Asian part of Istanbul, Turkey. The place, on the coast of Sea of Marmara, borders to Harem in the northwest and Kadıköy in the southeast...
Point. 42 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 vesselUnited KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
Nordic Faith collided with Greek flagged ship Stravanda. Fire broke out.
- September 24, 1985 – Turkish NavyTurkish NavyThe Turkish Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the Turkish Armed Forces.- Ottoman fleet after Mudros :Following the demise of the Ottoman Empire in the aftermath of World War I, on November 3, 1918, the fleet commander of the Ottoman Navy, Liva Amiral Arif Pasha, ordered all flags to be...
fast attack boat TCG Meltem collided with a Soviet Navy war ship. Meltem sunk and 5 Turkish marines died.
- October 29, 1988 – MaltaMaltaMalta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...
se 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 – IraqIraqIraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
i tanker M/T Jampur carrying gasoline collided with the ChineseChinaChinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
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 - PhilippinesPhilippinesThe Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
flagged M/V Madonna Lily collided with the LebaneseLebanonLebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
flagged live stock carrier M/V Rabunion XVIII at AnadoluhisarıAnadoluhisariAnadoluhisarı is a fortress located in Istanbul, Turkey on the Anatolian side of the Bosporus, which also gives its name to the quarter around it...
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 CyprusCyprusCyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...
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 - RussiaRussiaRussia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n tanker M/T Volganeft-248 grounded at FloryaFloryaFlorya is a neighborhood belonging to the Bakırköy district of the greater Istanbul, Turkey. It is located along Marmara Sea, and borders to the northeast the neighborhood of Yeşilköy, to the northwest that of Küçükçekmece. It is one of the high class and rich areas of Istanbul...
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.
- November 10, 2003 - GeorgianGeorgia (country)Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...
flagged cargo ship GGC Svyatoy Panteleymon ran aground off Anadolufeneri and broke into two pieces. Around 500 tons of oil spilled and caused pollution.
Dardanelles
- April 4, 1953 - Turkish Navy submarine TCG DumlupınarUSS Blower (SS-325)USS Blower , a Balao-class submarine, was a ship of the United States Navy named for the blower, a fish of the Atlantic coast of the United States and the West Indies....
collided with the SwedishSwedenSweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
flagged freighter M/V Naboland. Dumlupınar sunk taking 81 of 86 submariners into the depth.
Shipwrecks
The number of shipwreckShipwreck
A shipwreck is what remains of a ship that has wrecked, either sunk or beached. Whatever the cause, a sunken ship or a wrecked ship is a physical example of the event: this explains why the two concepts are often overlapping in English....
s as of 2000 within the Turkish Straits is as follows (totaling 35):
- 23 in the Istanbul Strait
- 3 in the Marmara Sea
- 9 in the Çanakkale Strait