A cargo ship sank in the Marmara Sea near Istanbul on the event date after colliding with an empty oil tanker before dawn, prompting a large-scale search for 10 crew members who were on board, Turkish officials said.
The collision took place 18 nautical miles, or 33 kilometres, off the Silivri district on the western edge of Istanbul province, according to the governor's office cited by maritime authorities. The ship that sank was identified as the Tuğberk İmamoğlu, a dry cargo vessel carrying rolled steel. Officials said the tanker involved in the collision was ALSU.
The transport ministry's maritime directorate said the tanker captain reported the collision at 3:15 am. Rescue crews then dispatched 14 search and rescue vessels to the area, along with a helicopter, as authorities tried to account for everyone aboard the cargo ship. Life-saving equipment, including a lifeboat belonging to the Tuğberk İmamoğlu, was found at sea, but officials said the 10 crew members were not inside.
The maritime directorate said the cargo ship had stopped responding to calls and that crew members were not answering their mobile phones, leading officials to conclude the dry cargo ship had likely sunk. The vessel was later confirmed sunk after the collision.
The incident added urgency to a maritime rescue effort in one of Turkey's busiest waterways and came after the tanker was damaged in the collision. The ALSU was also taking part in the search effort, according to the maritime directorate.
Officials said the Tuğberk İmamoğlu had been carrying 4,200 tons of rolled sheet metal at the time of the collision. The maritime directorate initially said the tanker was carrying 3,000 tonnes of motor oil, but later corrected that detail and said the vessel was empty, a point confirmed by the governorate.
The search unfolded in rough circumstances for a maritime corridor that links the Black Sea and the Mediterranean and handles heavy traffic through the Turkish straits region. Even so, the evidence supplied in this case points to a narrow set of verified facts: the collision, the sinking, the search for 10 crew members, and the official response launched shortly after dawn.
Authorities had not yet reported a final outcome for the missing crew members in the supplied reporting. The available evidence instead shows an active rescue operation, multiple vessels deployed, and a damaged tanker remaining in the area while search teams worked the scene.
The collision came three days after a deadly ferry accident off Turkish-occupied northern Cyprus, in which eight Turkish nationals died and rescuers were still looking for another 20 people listed as missing. That earlier disaster was separate, but it underscored the pressure on maritime safety responders across the region.
For now, the key confirmed details are the location off Silivri, the vessels involved, the cargo ship's sinking after impact, and the ongoing search for the 10 people believed to have been aboard when the Tuğberk İmamoğlu went down.
