The transport ministry announced that the rescue operation was put on hold because of bad weather. The vessel has been identified as the sanctioned tanker Kairos. It was struck in the Black Sea by a Ukrainian drone last week in Turkey's Exclusive Economic Zone, and its crew was rescued when it caught fire.

Kairos is one of two tankers that Ukrainian drones targeted as they were heading to a Russian harbor to load oil for export markets. Kyiv wants to put pressure on Russia's huge oil industry. The Turkish Transport Ministry said that the tanker caught fire and suffered an explosion while on its way from Egypt to Russia.

The maritime control services spotted it earlier on Friday, but the vessel did not respond when contacted. The ministry confirmed that 10 people were on board after contacting passing ships and the Maritime Coordination Centre of Ankara. They later requested evacuation.

A navy helicopter and border police were dispatched to assist, but the ship stopped moving and anchored one nautical mile east from the resort village Ahtopol. Strong winds have kept it under constant surveillance.

As soon as the weather stabilizes, two air-tractors are ready to join the operation.

Another Russian flagged tanker carrying sunflower oil was attacked by a drone off the Turkish coast on Tuesday. However, its 13 crew were not injured. Hakan Fidan, Turkish Foreign Minister on Wednesday, said that the "very frightening" attacks against Russia-linked oil tankers in Black Sea threaten the safety of everyone in the region. (Reporting and writing by Daria Sucic, with Stoyan Nenov;)

(source: Reuters)