Istanbul– A Turkish-operated oil tanker sailing from Russia was hit by a naval drone on Thursday as it approached the Black Sea entrance to the Bosporus strait, Turkish officials said.
All 27 Turkish crew members of the Altura were safe in the attack, which occurred early Thursday and caused damage to the bridge and engine room.
Transport Minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu said the tanker was “attacked by an unmanned seaplane”, without specifying whether Ukraine was suspected to be behind the attack.
In an interview with broadcaster 24TV on Thursday morning, he said: “Our technical teams have been dispatched to the scene. It was an external explosion, a deliberate attack aimed at disabling the ship, specifically targeting the engine room. We don’t know the owner, but it is a Turkish company.”
Altura is subject to EU sanctions from October 2025 “Shadow Fleet” Exports of Russian oil and petroleum products, according to the Open Sanctions website.
The ship, which was reportedly carrying 140,000 tonnes of crude when it collided about 14 nautical miles north of the Bosphorus, is Turkish-flagged and has been owned by Turkey-based Pergamon Maritime since November 2025.
Open Sanctions also reported ties between the ship and the Iranian regime under its previous ownership.
The Altura departed from Russia’s Novorossiysk port on Sunday, according to the Maritime Traffic website.
After the explosion, the tanker radioed for emergency help and the rescue ship Nene Hatun and other vessels were dispatched by Türkiye’s General Directorate of Coastal Security.
Turkish government condemned in November Ukrainian drone strikes On two Russian “shadow fleet” oil tankers in the Black Sea.
The Foreign Ministry said at the time that the attacks on the Kairos and Virat ships inside Turkey’s exclusive economic zone posed a “serious risk to navigation, life, property and environmental safety in the area”.
Ukraine had previously conducted successful naval attacks against Russian shipping during the war, notably using maritime drones loaded with explosives. However, Ukrainian missions were previously largely confined to the waters of the Northern Black Sea.
