Amid a storm in the weekend of Week 46, the Turkish 1988 built cargo ship KAFKAMETLER with 12 crew members on board went missing off the country’s Black Sea coast of which authorities have been unable to make contact with them since.
The captain had reported during the morning that the ship was drifting towards a breakwater off Eregli, in northwest Turkey’s Zonguldak province. The region was hit by powerful storms on Sunday and the statement said the adverse weather prevented air and sea vessels from carrying out searches.
Last October she hit a mine in the Black Sea off the coast of Romania and sustained minor damage but the crew was safe.It was one of the first incidents for some months involving a ship hitting a sea mine. The Black Sea area has been listed as a high risk zone by insurers and floating mines remain a peril.
An Ukrainian government source confirmed a vessel had struck a mine, adding it was “probably a World War II mine, or the landing mines that were left there last year,” declining further comment.
