Turkish forces rescue Russian soldiers in Black Sea

By Sarp Ozer, Sinan Uslu

ANKARA

Turkish forces rescued Russian soldiers when a warship sank off Turkey’s Black Sea coast, the army said on Thursday.

The Turkish General Staff said in a statement on its website that the army responded to the accident immediately and saved the 78-member crew of the Russian ship.

Earlier on Thursday, the RFS Liman, a Russian surveillance vessel, hit a merchant freighter due to fog 15 nautical miles (29 kilometers) off the European coastline to the northwest of where the Bosphorus meets the Black Sea.

“The Russian warship sank shortly after the accident. There are no missing crew members,” the statement added.

The Togo-flagged freighter suffered minimal damage, the statement said, adding there were no injured crew members in the ship, which was traveling from Romania to Jordan.

While the Turkish navy joined the rescue operation with two assault boats, a rescue vessel, a patrol vessel and a helicopter, Turkish air forces used a rescue aircraft and a helicopter. The Turkish Coast Guard provided a boat and a helicopter for the operation, the statement added.

Meanwhile, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim spoke with his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev by telephone about the incident.

Yildirim expressed his sorrow about the accident and informed Medvedev on the situation of the rescued crew, an official in the Prime Ministry said on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on talking to the media.

Medvedev thanked the Turkish PM for the efforts to rescue the Russian crew.