Cargo ship grounds off Istanbul’s Bebek coast

ISTANBUL

A cargo ship from Ukraine, which had run aground some 40 meters off Istanbul’s Bebek neighborhood after drifting in the Bosphorus, has been rescued thanks to four hours of work by officials.

The rudder of the 173-meter-long and 29-meter-wide Liberian cargo ship from Ukraine was locked as it passed through the Bosphorus.

The captain of “Lady Zehma,” which started to drift by sounding the siren, tried to stop by anchoring. Turning in the opposite direction and continuing to drift towards the flybridges on the coast, the ship crashed into the lighthouse in Bebek.

The ship ran aground 40 meters off the shore.

After the accident caused great panic, rescue and security teams were sent to the scene, while the strait traffic was temporarily suspended.

The ship, rescued following the efforts of the coastal security forces, was towed to a port in Fatih district with tugboats, and the strait was reopened to traffic.

The coastal security forces’ biggest tugboat participated in towing the ship.

Istanbul Governor’s Office made a statement about the accident on its social media account. “There were no injuries, loss of life or environmental pollution, according to the first investigations.”

Stating that they experienced great panic when the ship started to drift, Erol Hizarcı, the captain of a flybridge in the region, said, “We started to run away when the ship could not anchor and turned toward our yachts.”