Cruise ship collides with oil tanker off Turkish coast

A cruise liner collided with an oil tanker in the early hours on Saturday in the northern part of the Dardanelles Strait near the peninsula of Gallipoli. There were no reported casulties in both vessels.

The Maltese-flagged liner, CELESTYAL CRYSTAL, carrying 853 passengers and 382 crew members, was en route from the Greek island of Mykonos to Istanbul when it crashed with the Marshall islands-flagged tanker, STI Pimlico, travelling from Russia's Tuapse port to Malta, according to a maritime statement by the country's coastal authority, Directorate General of Coastal Safety.

The Directorate General of Coastal Safety stated the cruise liner, damaged on its bow, was anchored off the Gallipoli coast and the tanker, which suffered damage on its starboard, immediately anchored in the transit traffic line off the peninsula. The Directorate also said that the collision led to an oil leak in the tanker.

The packed liner, which is 161.8 meters in height, crashed with the tanker, of 184.26 meters in height, at 1:25 a.m. local time, despite all warnings for collission by the Traffic Control Center.

After the accident, the Dardanelles Strait was closed to two-way passages by transit vessels. Three tug boats and three rescue boats set sail to rescue civilians, stranded on both vessels in the Strait.