A Turkish court has remanded master Ahmet Erarslan and second officer Murat Evciman after chemical tanker Alsu collided with general cargo ship Tuğberk İmamoğlu in the Sea of Marmara, leaving all 10 Turkish seafarers on the cargo vessel missing, according to the Silivri Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office.
The collision occurred at about 03:13 on September 2 in the traffic separation scheme, around 18 nautical miles south of Silivri.
The empty Turkish-flagged Alsu was sailing from Kocaeli to Aliağa. Turkish-flagged Tuğberk İmamoğlu was bound from İskenderun for Karadeniz Ereğli carrying rolled steel and reinforcing bar. Nine of the 10 people aboard Alsu, excluding the cook, were initially treated as suspects and kept under gendarmerie supervision after questioning. Six were later taken to court. Erarslan and Evciman were remanded in custody, while four others were released under judicial-control measures.
Tuğberk İmamoğlu suffered port-side damage and sank rapidly. Its life rafts and free-fall lifeboat were later found empty. The casualty site is around 800 to 900 metres deep. The 10 missing crew are master Yaşar Kayhan, first officer Rahmi Temel, third officer Atakan Alagöz, chief engineer Aydın Demirci, second engineer Gencer Aydın, oiler Eyüp Enes Cesur, boatswain Nidai Duman, able seaman Nacican Keskin, seaman Onuralp Demir and cook Abdülbaki Mirzaoğlu.
Search operations involved four Turkish navy ships, an unmanned aerial vehicle, an aircraft and a search-and-rescue helicopter, alongside Coastal Safety and Coast Guard units.
A preliminary expert report found failures on both vessels. Evciman was alone on Alsu’s bridge during the midnight-to-04:00 watch, his first navigational watch since joining the tanker on August 31. Erarslan was asleep and reached the bridge about seven to 10 minutes after the impact.
The report said Tuğberk İmamoğlu’s AIS was switched off, malfunctioning or affected by external interference. Alsu first detected the vessel as a radar echo at about 1.8 nautical miles. After VHF contact, Tuğberk İmamoğlu turned sharply to starboard at about 0.5 nautical miles and crossed Alsu’s bow. Alsu continued altering to port instead of stopping or reversing.
The report remains preliminary, and the reason Tuğberk İmamoğlu sank so quickly has not been established. Özpulathane Deniz Taşımacılığı Sanayi Ticaret AŞ is the registered owner of the 3,338-dwt, 2,298-gt Alsu, which was built in Tuzla in December 2021. Zeybe Denizcilik ve Ticaret Ltd Şti is the registered owner of the 3,970-dwt, 2,606-gt Tuğberk İmamoğlu, which was built in Hamburg in May 1990.