A Turkish cargoship sank in the Black Sea over the weekend but its crew was safely evacuated and brought to Novorossiysk by a Greek tanker sailing in the area.
The Greek coastguard ministry reported on Saturday that the 1,800-dwt Fom (built 1981) sent a distress call after listing 78 nautical miles southwest of Sevastopol. The 158,000-dwt Minerva Marina (built 2009) picked up the signal and rushed to the area, taking all the Fom's six Azeri and two Turkish seamen on board.
Minerva Marina, a vessel of Greece's Minerva Marine, was scheduled to disembark them at Novorossiysk on Sunday.
According to a subsequent briefing by the Greek coastguard, the Panama-flagged Fom was listing by about 20 degrees and then sank 80 miles southwest of Sevastopol.
Shipping databases list the Fom as the sole ship under management of Istanbul-based Lefon Shipping Corp. Some media reported the vessel’s crew had to be evacuated once again in the Black Sea almost exactly two years ago, when it lost propulsion power after engine failure en route to the Crimea.
