Russian Navy reconnaissance ship sinks after collision in Black Sea

Photo: Murad Sezer / Reuters

A Russian Navy reconnaissance ship has sunk after colliding with another vessel near the Bosporus, Russia Today quotes the Russian Defense Ministry as saying.

The hull of ‘the Liman,’ a 1,560-ton reconnaissance ship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, was breached below the waterline in the collision, the Defense Ministry said.

The Turkish coast guard said it rescued 78 people from the Russian ship, which was later confirmed by the Russian authorities.

“All crew members of the research ship of the Black Sea Fleet are alive and well and are currently preparing for evacuation from the Turkish rescue ship to a Russian ship,” the Defense Ministry said.

According to the Defense Ministry, ‘the Liman’ collided with another ship, ‘Ashot-7,’ about 40km northwest from the Bosporus Strait.

‘The Liman’ was built during Soviet times in Poland and commissioned in 1970. It is mostly unarmed, but carries a radar station, a hydroacoustic detector and other reconnaissance equipment needed to track surface ships and submarines.

Emil Lazarian

“I should like to see any power of the world destroy this race, this small tribe of unimportant people, whose wars have all been fought and lost, whose structures have crumbled, literature is unread, music is unheard, and prayers are no more answered. Go ahead, destroy Armenia . See if you can do it. Send them into the desert without bread or water. Burn their homes and churches. Then see if they will not laugh, sing and pray again. For when two of them meet anywhere in the world, see if they will not create a New Armenia.” - WS