King Edward, a Marshall Islands-flagged, 182-meter tanker was heading to Russia's Black Sea port of Kavkaz from Italy when it broke down off the Bebek coast of Istanbul on Sunday evening. A strong current pushed the tanker toward the coast before the crew managed to anchor in time before a crash.
Ships from Turkey's Maritime Safety Directorate were dispatched to the scene and towed the vessel off the coast of Yenikapı, a port on Istanbul's European side.
The straits in Turkey are among the most at-risk waterways in the world, according to experts. Over 50,000 vessels, including tankers carrying highly flammable oil, pass through the Bosporus, an S-shaped channel with sharp turns and changing currents that pose challenge for vessels and sailors, every year. In compliance with the 1936 Montreaux convention Turkey has to allow open access for all civilian vessels through the straits in peacetime. However, accidents concern the country. From 1953 to 2003, 461 accidents occurred in the Bosporus.
The deadliest accident was when a Romanian tanker and a Greek freighter collided and exploded in November 1979, killing 42 crewmembers aboard the Romanian tanker. The last major accident in the strait was in 2003 when a Georgian-flagged vessel ran aground resulting in a spill of 480 tons of oil.
To change the course of vessels with potentially dangerous cargo, the government plans to build Kanal Istanbul, an ambitious project that will see the construction of a canal through the city's European side.
The main purpose of the project is to reduce marine traffic through the Bosporus and minimize risks and dangers particularly associated with tankers. International pressure is growing to increase marine traffic tonnage through the Turkish straits, which brings risks for the security of marine navigation during passage.
It is argued that the new canal would further help prevent pollution caused by cargo vessels passing through or mooring in the Marmara Sea before the southern mouth of the Bosporus.
