A Russian reconnaissance ship has sunk on Thursday after collision in the Black Sea with another cargo ship transporting sheep from Romania to Jordan. The incident took place in the Turkish waters, 40 kilometres northwest of the Bosphorus Strait.
The Turkish coast guard said that all 78 personnel in the Russian intelligence vessel named Liman have been rescued.
The cargo ship with 8,800 sheep on board, would have left the Midia-Navodari port in Romania heading to Jordan. A Togo-flagged vessel, the cargo ship was named „Youzarsif-H”, the Turkish media reported.
Interfax said that the intelligence Russian ship “Liman” sank at 14:48, two hours and a half after the collision.
Liman “sustained a hull breach due to a collision” and several persons have suffered minor injuries, according to the Russian media.
Other ships of the Russian fleet deployed in the Black Sea and a plane were sent on the scene. First information blame the collision on the thick fog in the area.
The Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim called his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev to express his sadness over the collision.
The Liman is a former research vessel that the Russian navy has retro-fitted into a reconnaissance ship. ‘The Liman’ was built during Soviet times in Poland and commissioned in 1970. It is mostly unarmed, but carries a radar station, a hydroacoustic detector and other reconnaissance equipment needed to track surface ships and submarines, according to RT.com.