A small container ship that belonged to Russian state transport firm Fesco until two months ago has capsized in a Turkish port.
The incident at the Ambarli Marport terminal took place on Monday and was disclosed by Turkey’s General Shipping Directorate.
Pictures and video footage from an Ambarli port camera shows the 508-teu Amnah (built 1996) slowly listing to the side as seafarers rush to get out of the vessel before going down with it.
According to Turkish authorities, 15 crew members were evacuated.
“The risk of sea pollution was brought under control by surrounding the ship with a floating barrier,” the shipping directorate said.
“Rescue operations started under the coordination of our port authority,” it added.
No other comments were made as to the cause of the incident and no report about human casualties was issued.
Until October, the Amnah traded with Fesco under the Russian flag as Fesco Nagaevo. At that point, however, it changed its name to Amnah and raised the flag of the Comoros under the ownership of Belize-registered, one-ship company Amnah Maritime Co LLC.
The Amnah’s technical manager is another one-ship company based in Turkey called Embrace Shipping Management Co.
The ship has not been reported by brokers to have changed hands recently.
If it is still connected to Fesco, the Amnah’s capsizing would be the fourth casualty of a Russian-controlled vessel in European waters this week.
TradeWinds has already reported last weekend about the sinking in heavy weather in the Kerch Strait of the Volgoneft 212 and Volgoneft 239 — two small coastal and river tankers that left one seafarer dead and spilt thousands of tons of oil in the area.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Russian-flagged, 9,500-dwt Ursa Major (built 2009) sank after an engine room explosion in Mediterranean waters between Spain and Algeria. Two seafarers are missing.
