Media: Turkish ship ran aground on the Crimean Peninsula
On the morning of March 12th, the Turkish dry cargo ship, River Eregli, ran aground near the coast in Alupka. The vessel was sailing under the flag of Micronesia, as reported by the monitoring group of the Maidan of Foreign Affairs and BSNews.
"The incident occurred in quiet weather. This suggests that the vessel's engine stopped working. However, another option is possible – that the dry cargo ship has not had its AIS transmitter on since the end of November 2016. The last known location of the ship is the Kerch Strait, as of the 30th of November 2016. Such tricks are often used by ships carrying contraband," the monitoring group reports.
In August 2015 the ship was purchased by a Turkish company from the city of Ereğli on the Black Sea shore. According to the monitoring group, until the end of November 2016, when the AIS signal disappeared, the dry cargo vessel, despite its river class, was making voyages in the Black Sea. Photos from the scene were published by users of one of Yalta's public groups on a social network.
According to the Ukrainian law, "On ensuring the rights and freedoms of citizens and the legal regime in the annexed territory of Ukraine," the ship's crew members are subject to administrative and criminal liability for illegally crossing the border and violating the order of entry into the annexed territory.