A Turkish-owned freighter ran aground in the Black Sea south of the Kerch Strait and began taking on water, Turkish maritime authorities said on Tuesday.
The Turkey’s Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure’s Directorate General of Maritime Affairs said all 11 crew members, including three Turkish nationals, left the ship safely.
The crew members’ health was good and no injuries were reported, the directorate said, adding that authorities were monitoring the situation.
The directorate did not give details on what caused the vessel to drift or on the ship’s condition after the evacuation.
The Happy Aras sails under the flag of Vanuatu and was built in 1990, according to vessel tracking databases.
The Kerch Strait is a narrow waterway between Russia and Crimea that connects the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov and has been a flashpoint since Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea.