Bulgarian Rescuers Prevent Sinking of Turkish Ship in Black Sea

An operation to keep afloat flooded Turkish cargo ship Pazar east of Bulgarian Black Sea port of Varna has ended successfully, the captain of Bulgarian tugboat Enterprise said on Monday.

Enterprise, which is fitted with equipment to handle oil spills, pumped water from Pazar’s engine room for seven hours on Sunday, thus preventing the sinking of the 3,000-tone vessel, Captain Dimitar Dimitrov said in a statement.

The deck of the Turkish vessel was already under water when Enterprise came to rescue in the region of Kaliakra Cape, 70 miles east of Varna, at 5 a.m. local time (0200 GMT) on Sunday.

After managing to keep Pazar afloat and stabilising her, Enterprise started towing the ship towards Varna. About 8 p.m. on Sunday the Bulgarian rescuers delivered the vessel to Turkish tugboat MarineTug 1 sent by Turkish authorities to tow her to Istanbul.

Pazar with 14 crew members on board sent a distress signal on Saturday after starting taking water in its engine room.

By the time Enterprise arrived Pazar’s engine room had been completely flooded, according to Krasimir Draganov, CEO of Varna-based Bon Marine International which owns Enterprise.

Had the stern gone a further 30 centimetres under water, the Turkish ship would have sunk, Draganov said.

Rough seas with waves as high as four metres and night darkness made the pumping operation extremely difficult, Captain Dimitrov said.