News | Euronews RSS
· collected 2026-09-04 · by Gavin Blackburn, Begum Tunakan
A captain and his third-in-command were arrested on charges of negligent homicide after their oil tanker collided with a cargo ship off Istanbul, sinking it and leaving 10 crew missing. The collision occurred at dawn on Wednesday near Silivri, and officials said the cargo ship sank "very quickly" in waters about 900 meters deep. A marine accident expert report found multiple breaches of safety procedures on the tanker, including an inexperienced third officer being left alone on watch with no lookout. Prosecutors have started legal proceedings against nine members of the tanker's crew, excluding the cook.
Written by the local model on 2026-09-04,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Story summary
On Thursday, a cargo ship Tuğberk İmamoğlu carrying rolled steel collided with an empty oil tanker ALSU in the Sea of Marmara off the coast of Istanbul, resulting in the sinking of both vessels and leaving 10 crew members missing. Search and rescue operations are ongoing, but it is unclear what caused the collision or how many people may have been on board the ALSU. A.E., the captain of the oil tanker, and M.E., his third-in-command, were arrested by a court in Silivri on charges of negligent homicide for allegedly failing to fulfill their navigational safety obligations and prevent the collision. The investigation is being handled by prosecutors in Silivri.
Written for “Turkey Cargo Ship Sinking” on 2026-09-05,
grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.
Why this leaning score
This article does not take a side on a contested political
question, so it has no leaning score. That is an
answer rather than a gap: a match report or a rescue can be warmly
or critically written without being left or right, and scoring it
anyway is how approval of a subject gets recorded as a political
position.
No political leaning scored for article 3708 · logged 2026-09-04
Search and resuce operations are ongoing with teams yet to reach the wreckage of the Tuğberk İmamoğlu or locate its voyage data recorder (VDR) or "black box."
asserted
teams → search → recorder
The captain of an oil tanker that collided with a cargo ship and sank off Istanbul leaving 10 crew missing has been arrested along with his third-in-command on charges of negligent homicide, prosecutors said on Friday.
asserted
prosecutors → collide → Friday
The pair were arrested by a court late on Thursday, a day after the pre-dawn collision in which the ALSU, an empty oil tanker, struck the Tuğberk İmamoğlu, a cargo vessel carrying rolled steel, in the Sea of Marmara near Istanbul.
asserted
ALSU → arrest → Istanbul
The case is being handled by prosecutors in Silivri on the western outskirts of Istanbul province.
asserted
case → handle → province
According to the prosecutors' statement, the Silvri court charged the pair with negligent homicide for failing to fulfil their navigational safety obligations and take the necessary measures to prevent the collision.
uncertain
court → accord → collision
It said the captain, identified only as A.E., "failed to fulfil his duty of supervision and oversight of navigational safety" while the other suspect, M.E., "who served as the third captain and watch officer at the time of the incident, failed to take the necessary measures to prevent the collision in a timely and effective manner.
asserted
who → say → manner
The court ordered four other suspects be granted conditional release, it said.
asserted
it → order → release
Officials said the damaged cargo ship sank "very quickly" in waters about 900 metres deep, some 18 nautical miles (33 kilometres) off Silivri, leaving all 10 crew members missing.
asserted
ship → say → members
Rescuers have yet to reach the wreckage of the Tuğberk İmamoğlu or locate its voyage data recorder (VDR) or "black box."
asserted
Rescuers → have → recorder
According to a marine accident expert report prepared for prosecutors, a copy of which was seen by the AFP news agency on Thursday, there were multiple breaches of safety procedures aboard the tanker.
"The fundamental root cause...resulting in a catastrophe, was the deficiencies and failures on the bridge of the M/T ALSU," it said.
uncertain
it → accord → ALSU
It said an inexperienced third officer was at the helm and there was no lookout on duty, describing it as "serious negligence."
"No helmsman or lookout was posted on the bridge and the officer, who had only recently joined the vessel and lacked experience, was left alone on watch," the report said.
asserted
report → say → watch
It also pointed to shortcomings on the part of the cargo ship.
asserted
It → point → ship
Search and rescue operations continued on Friday.
asserted
operations → continue → Friday
Prosecutors have started legal proceedings against nine of the ALSU's 10 crew members, excluding the cook, six of whom appeared in court on Thursday.
asserted
six → exclude → Thursday
