Turkish Rescuers Save 13 Crew from Ship Grounded at Bosphorus
Turkish coastal rescuers have brought all 13 crew safely ashore from the general cargo ship BYB Othello after it ran aground near Anadolu Lighthouse in Istanbul, Türkiye. The lighthouse stands on the Asian shore at the northern entrance of the Bosphorus, where the strait meets the Black Sea.
The St Kitts and Nevis-flagged, Turkish-owned ship, about 97 metres long and built in 2008, had sailed from Kocaeli and was bound for Ukraine. At about 02:40 local time on 6 November, it reported a main engine failure. Heavy seas and strong winds then pushed the ship onto the shore.
From the CrewMirror Blog
Türkiye’s Directorate General of Coastal Safety sent the rescue boat Bayak-1 and the tug Kurtarma-11, but the weather was too severe for a rescue from the sea. At about 06:00, a shore rescue team rigged a breeches buoy, a traditional rope-and-pulley system that carries people from a ship to land. All 13 crew were brought ashore in about 30 minutes. Their nationalities were not reported.
The ship remained aground after the rescue. Port state control records show it had six inspections in the last 17 months with 90 deficiencies in total. The latest inspection, about ten days before the grounding, found 17 deficiencies, including hull and structural defects, liferaft stowage problems and fire safety issues.
CrewMirror Takeaway
This rescue shows that a well-maintained main engine is a key safety barrier in heavy weather near the coast. Crews on ships with repeated PSC deficiencies are entitled to report safety concerns to the flag State or port State authorities.
