Three Turkish Coast Guard Killed in Ship Collision in Bosphorus Strait

More than three percent of the world’s crude supply, mainly from Russia and the Caspian Sea, passes through the 17-mile Bosphorus which connects the Black Sea to the Mediterranean.

ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Three Turkish Coast Guard personnel were killed on Wednesday after their vessel collided with a bulk carrier in the Bosphorus strait, forcing officials to temporarily suspend traffic in the busy shipping lane.

Their vessel capsized after colliding with the Tolunay, a Cook Island-flagged bulk carrier, which was sailing toward the Black Sea, shipping agent GAC said.

Four members of the Coast Guard were in hospital, a spokesman at the Istanbul governor’s office said.

The collision occurred at 8:40 a.m. (0540 GMT) at the southern end of the strait, it said, adding that traffic was halted until 2:30 p.m. and has resumed.

More than three percent of the world’s crude supply, mainly from Russia and the Caspian Sea, passes through the 17-mile Bosphorus which connects the Black Sea to the Mediterranean. (Reporting by Ayla Jean Yackley; editing by Daren Butler and Jason Neely)

(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2016

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