Severe storms have delayed a search-and-rescue operation for 12 crew members of a cargo ship that sank off Turkey’s Black Sea coast, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said Monday. The Turkish-flagged Kafkametler sank on Sunday after hitting a breakwater outside the harbor off the town of Eregli, some 200 kilometers (124 miles) east of Istanbul. Yerlikaya told reporters that rescue crews were on standby, waiting for the weather to ease to begin a rescue mission.
The storms also prompted a prison in Eregli to be evacuated due to rising water levels, the Maritime General Directorate reported. The Cameroon-flagged Pallada, meanwhile, broke up in the storms, leaving no survivors, according to the Maritime Directorate. The storms also caused an explosion on a tugboat in the Black Sea near the port of Sochi, killing one of its crew members. The cause of the blast is under investigation.
Meanwhile, Turkey’s president held a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the earthquake and discussed rescue support that Moscow can provide to the country, the Turkish presidency said. The Kremlin said it has Ilyushin-76 planes on standby to fly to Turkey and Syria.
Erdogan also spoke by telephone with 18 heads of state and government and extended condolences to them for the deaths in the massive earthquake that hit northwest Turkey on Saturday. He also praised the international response to the crisis and thanked those countries and institutions assisting.
Turkey’s quake death toll rose to 812 on Tuesday, the state-run news agency SANA said. It included 771 people in government-controlled areas and 804 in rebel-held territory.
US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Washington stands ready to offer assistance in the aftermath of the disaster. “President Biden has directed USAID and other federal government partners to assess the need and to mobilize appropriate resources to assist as needed,” he said in a statement.
The head of the International Red Cross, Peter Ford, said he was working with Turkish authorities to help the quake victims. Ford urged the media to be careful in reporting information about the quake and stressed that the Red Cross has no political or religious agenda. He added that the Red Cross is helping with basic needs, including food and shelter, but it cannot meet all the medical treatment demands. He urged people to donate money to relief efforts. The Red Cross has a website where donations can be made. Thousands of homes were destroyed in the quake, and at least a million people have been displaced. The number of people missing is also unclear. Some 13,000 rescue personnel are focused on the Hatay region, where dozens of villagers were killed in villages near the epicenter. More than 150 were injured.