Bosphorus Strait Closed after Vessel Allides with Villa

A cargo ship ran aground and smashed into a villa on Turkey's Bosphorus Strait on Tuesday, forcing maritime authorities to close the key waterway to transit traffic, shipping agency GAC said.

The 105 metre Sierra Leone-flagged Majed & Randy had no pilot on board when it suffered a rudder malfunction before hitting the villa, located on the Asian side of the waterway near Istanbul's Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge, GAC said.

No one was hurt in the incident, which occurred at 12:48 p.m. (0948 GMT), it said.

The narrow, winding Bosphorus bisects Europe's largest city between its Asian and European sides and serves as the only maritime outlet for Russian oil and other commodities from the Black Sea.

An estimated 10,000 tankers carry 150 million tonnes of petroleum products through the strait each year.

The Coast Guard deployed tugboats and a pilot to assist the Majed & Randy, which remained anchored in the area of the collision, GAC said. It was not immediately clear when the Bosphorus would re-open to transit traffic.

Reporting by Ayla Jean Yackley