294 metres-long boxship MSC Sarah went aground just after completing the passage of the Strait of Dardanelles yesterday evening.
294 metres-long boxship MSC Sarah went aground just after completing the passage of the Strait of Dardanelles yesterday evening.
The Maltese flag containership was en route from Sines, Portugal where she had sailed on 26th of December, to Ambarli, Turkey, where she was expected to be on the 1st of February.
Reason of the accident is yet unknown.
There is no pollution reported, but the ship had a list to her starboard side about 10 degrees after the grounding. The water depth is about 11 meters where the ship went aground.The ship is trying to refloat by her own.
The captain radioed the Vessel Traffic Services Center ( VTS) and afterwards a tugboat of Turkish Coastal Safety Administration has been sent to the incident site. The tug, Kurtarma 10, which is a powerful voith-schneider system tug, waiting nearby the grounded vessel.
The accident took place at 21:00 local time on 31.01.2014. The grounding location is Çardak Bank, just in front of the Gallipoli province. MSC Sarah has a crew of 29 and a container cargo of 38955 tons on board as well as 2506 tons fuel and 179 tons diesel.
MSC Sarah (above) and MSC Roberta (Below) accident locations
Second accident of MSC at the same place
The Çardak Bank area has became a unlucky area for MSC as this is the second accident of the company at the same area.
In April 2005, MSC Roberta (240 m boxship) collided with cargo ship Aegean Wind. Three of crew members of MSC Roberta had died in this accident.
