A Liberia-flagged cargo vessel on Friday crashed into a bollard in the Bosphorus Strait in Istanbul, media has reported
ANKARA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 27th December, 2019) A Liberia-flagged cargo vessel on Friday crashed into a bollard in the Bosphorus Strait in Istanbul, media has reported.
According to the NTV broadcaster, the vessel named the Songa Iridium departed from the Ukrainian port of Odessa and ran ashore in the Rumeli Hisarı district.
Given a strong stream, the vessel lost rudder control and ran into a bollard.
No casualties have been reported as a result of the incident. Coastal security boats have arrived at the scene.
The incident comes amid Turkey's plans to construct an alternative strait, dubbed the Istanbul Canal project, which would link the Marmara Sea with the Black Sea. The project, initially presented in 2011, was endorsed by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on December 12 with the aim to eliminate the threat of environmental and man-made disasters on the Bosporus Strait, which has witnessed about 100 deaths and the leakage of 108,000 tonnes of oil in six major accidents since the 1960s.
The ultimate goal of the waterway is to decrease traffic at the Bosporus Strait. The 28-mile long canal is planned to be built to the west of Istanbul and could boost shipping traffic by up to 160 vessels per day.
