Four fishermen wounded in an attack that sank a Turkish fishing boat near Russian-occupied Crimea were taken to a hospital in northern Turkey on Saturday after a 15-hour rescue voyage, authorities said.
One other fisherman died as the crew was being evacuated following Friday’s attack on the Turkish-flagged Duru 67 off Sevastopol, on the western coast of the Crimean Peninsula.
Turkey’s Coast Guard Command has not said what weapon struck the vessel or identified who was responsible.
The attack damaged the Duru 67, causing it to sink.
A nearby Turkish fishing boat, the Burak Kaya, rescued five injured fishermen and began sailing toward the port of İnebolu on Turkey’s Black Sea coast.
One of the fishermen, who was critically injured, died during the journey, the coast guard said.
The coast guard dispatched the TCSG-96 from İnebolu with four doctors and 15 other medical workers after receiving word of the attack.
The vessel reached the Burak Kaya about 115 nautical miles, or 213 kilometers, north of İnebolu and took the fishermen and the body of the man who died.
The survivors received medical treatment during the return journey before being taken by ambulance to Kastamonu Teaching and Research Hospital.
Kastamonu Provincial Health Director Fevzi Yavuzyılmaz said all four were suffering from wounds caused mainly by shrapnel.
A medical team performed a procedure aboard the coast guard ship to insert a chest tube in one of the fishermen, while the others received wound care and stabilization, he said.
“Two of our patients have relatively minor injuries and two have slightly more serious injuries,” Yavuzyılmaz said.
The body of the fisherman who died was taken to the morgue at İnebolu State Hospital.
There has been no claim of responsibility for the attack.
Crimea, which is internationally recognized as part of Ukraine, was seized and annexed by Russia in 2014.
The Black Sea has seen attacks on commercial and civilian vessels since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Turkey warned against an “uncontrolled escalation” in the region in late May after a drone struck a Turkish cargo ship.
The Ukrainian navy said a Russian drone had carried out that attack.
With reporting by Agence France-Presse