The Bosphorus Strait has been shut for the transit traffic after a cargo ship ran into a villa due to rudder malfunction causing significant damage.
A dry cargo ship, identified as Majed and Randy, flagged Sierra Leone accidentally crashed on second floor of a fashionable villa on Turkey’s Bosphorus Strait on July 21. As reported, the incident has happened due to rudder malfunctioning, causing major damage to the front of the ship. There was no marine pilot on-board. The vessel, built in 1980, was carrying a cargo of 6,476 tons heading from Istanbul to Beirut.
The Coast Guard has deployed two tugboats and the vessel has been anchored at the same area. There has been no information on casualties or reported pollution from the incident. This led to the closure of ships traffic on the major waterway and is expected to reopen at 15:30 hours, according to GAC.
The Bosphorus Strait is the world’s most strategic and narrowest waterway situated between the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara. It is regularly used for commercial marine traffic and demarcates the boundary of Asia and Europe. Around 10,000 oil tankers carrying about 150 million tons of petroleum products ferries through the strait each year.
The M/V Majed and Randy was docked at a Sevastopol grain terminal during the Crimea – Russian conflict in July 2014 involving the export of grains to Saudi Arabia and Northern Cyprus, which was against E.U. sanctions.
