Turkish flagged dry cargo ship Tayyar Şenkaya 1 sunk some 31 miles off Finike, in the Gulf of Antalya..The11 crew members of Tayyar Şenkaya 1 were rescued by another Turkish vessel .
Departed form istanbul with steel cargo and bound for Mersin, cargo ship 'Tayyar Şenkaya 1' began to take in water from hatch on 4:15 AM today, in a position 13,5 miles off Finike region at the Gulf of Antalya. 11 crew jumped into the sea from the sides of the ship an hour later rescued by another vessel, The cargo ship sank to the bottom quickly.
1987 construction, 80-meter-long, 1,854 gross tonnage 'Tayyar Şenkaya 1' reported the steel cargo hit and damaged the sides of hatch and the ship started to take in water.
Survivors rescued by Palmali tanker "GOBUSTAN"
Meanwhile, the Malta-flagged tanker 'Gobustan' which belongs to Palmali group was in 10 miles away and rushed to accident site. The 11 casualties which left the ship by lifeboats were rescued by tanker Gobustan on 05:15. After the casualties rescued by Gobustan; the other two ships proceeding to accident site returned back on their routes. At 06:00 in the morning, Tayyar Şenkaya 1 completely sunk.
SHIP's side plates were pierced by COILS
'Tayyar Şenkaya 1 dry cargo ship's crew of 11 were taken to Finike by a Coast Guard boat and landed at Finike Coast Guard Headquarters. The ship's crew were in good general health, The crew asked for water first. All crew were rescued in good health and taken to hospital for medical check. The crew will be referred to the court after the Coast Guard headquarters operations.
The captain of Tayyar Şenkaya 1, Ersoy Şakar, said that they loaded the cargo from Ereğli, a Black Sea town of Turkey, and headed for Mersin, and accident occurred due to shift of steel cargo. .The ship began taking on water ranks of 03:00 hours, he said. Liftings of steel plates loosen and the plates hit the sides, he said, when describing the cause of accident.
Left the ship with lifeboats
With the start of the water to fill up the deck after an overall assessment indicates that they decided to abandon ship immediately, "We launched three of ship's lifeboats. 1 boat capsized in the water and we coul not use. We abandoned the ship with the other two. . The ship completely sunk at 06:25" the Captain said.
SHIP SANK AT 2800 METERS DEPTH
Captain Şakar said that 13.5 miles off shore, the ship sank at about 2 thousand 800 meters depth and, shortly after the tanker 'Gabustan' came to their rescue. Pointing out that they could survive with the help of calm seas and proximity to shore, Ersoy Şakar said "we saved our lives but financial loss is too high".
"MAYDAY call sent out"
Asil Canduran, the radio operator of the ship said that when they realized that the ship's taking in water, they informed ship's chief officer, Ersoy Şakar. Describing the water level is about 1.5 meters tall hatch Canduran, "called for emergency help. The evaluation, the captain decided to abandon ship. Can wearing vests were expecting. Immediately jumped into the sea," he said.
Names of 11 casualties that been rescued::
Captain İsa Yıldız, Chief Officer Ersoy Şakar, Radio Operator Asil Canduran, Chief Engineer Şemsettin Hemden, Mesut Dom, Murat Serdaroğlu, Yunus Çiğdem, Abdurahman Özkan, Serdar Ateş, Cumali Kurtay and Mesut Kesici.
REGION THAT SHIP SANKPalmali tanker GOBUSTAN altered course West to rescue the casualties and after delivering them to Coast Guard boat, she returned her previous route: