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Turkish ministry says stray mine in Black Sea defused

Published

2 years ago

October 19, 2022

Türkiye’s Defense Ministry announced on Wednesday that Turkish security forces had successfully disabled a naval mine in the Black Sea.

Military Underwater Defense (SAS) teams reached the scene where the mine was spotted off Kıyıköy, a small district in Kırklareli in northwestern Türkiye, where they secured and neutralized the mine, the ministry said in a written statement. The district where the mine was found is located less than 100 kilometers (60 miles) from the Bosporus, it added.

The ministry did not mention the possible source of the mine or reveal what type it was but it is the fourth sighting of a naval mine since the start of the Russia-Ukraine conflict earlier this year. Three mines were discovered in the spring near the Turkish coast in the Black Sea, including one off İğneada, a village located 30 kilometers west of Kıyıköy, and one near the mouth of the Bosporus. There was speculation that the mines could have become unmoored from Ukrainian waters during storms, but Ankara never confirmed their origin and none had been found since.

Underwater mines must be equipped with systems that make them harmless if unmoored, according to The Hague Convention of 1907. But older mines may lack such systems and present a risk.

The Black Sea is a major shipping artery for grain, oil and oil products. It is connected to the Marmara and then the Mediterranean Sea via the Bosporus, which runs through the heart of Istanbul – Türkiye’s largest city with 16 million residents – and then the Dardanelles further southwest. The Turkish Naval Forces Command has ramped up precautionary efforts to find and defuse any stray sea mines amid the ongoing conflict. In April, the ministry announced that maritime patrol aircraft, helicopters, drones and patrol vessels were deployed to defuse any drifting mines.

The Bosporus, a key trade channel connecting the Black Sea and the Mediterranean, was briefly closed due to a suspected mine risk in April while fishing activities in the Black Sea’s southwest coasts were briefly banned. Türkiye shares the Black Sea borders with Russia and Ukraine. Russia’s main intelligence agency had said earlier that several mines had drifted out to sea after breaking off from cables near Ukrainian ports, a claim dismissed by Kyiv as disinformation and an attempt to close off parts of the sea.