Cruise Ship and Tanker Collide in Turkey’s Dardanelles Strait

A Celestyal cruise ship was involved in a collision with a tanker carrying flammable naphtha early Saturday morning in the Dardanelles strait near Gallipoli, Turkey.

Celestyal Cruises reports that its ship, the Maltese flagged MV Celestyal Crystal, collided with the Marshall Islands-flagged MT STI Pimlico at about 1:28 a.m. local time on Saturday.

The cruise line reports that all 852 passengers and the 382 crew members were uninjured in the accident. No injuries were reported among the tanker crew.

The cruise ship suffered some structural damages and awaits inspection from its class surveyor, the cruise line said.

Video and photos from the scene show damage to the bow of the cruise ship and to the port beam of the tanker.

The General Directorate of Coastal Safety reports that some of the tanker’s naphtha cargo was released and a tug was on scene conducting cooling operations.

The current cruise has been been cancelled and all passengers will disembark in Gelibolu, Celestyal said.

The Dardanelles strait (Çanakkale Bo?az?) connects the Aegean Sea with the Sea of Marmara and the Bosporus.

The 38,000 DWT STI Pimlico was built in 2014 and is owned by Scorpio Tankers.

Below is some video showing the aftermath:

Updated: June 29, 2015 (Originally published June 27, 2015)

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