The captain of an oil tanker that collided with a cargo ship and sank off Istanbul leaving 10 crew missing has been arrested along with his third-in-command on charges of negligent homicide, prosecutors said on Friday.
The pair were arrested by a court late on Thursday, a day after the pre-dawn collision in which the ALSU, an empty oil tanker, struck the Tuğberk İmamoğlu, a cargo vessel carrying rolled steel, in the Sea of Marmara near Istanbul.
The case is being handled by prosecutors in Silivri on the western outskirts of Istanbul province.
According to the prosecutors' statement, the Silvri court charged the pair with negligent homicide for failing to fulfil their navigational safety obligations and take the necessary measures to prevent the collision.
It said the captain, identified only as A.E., "failed to fulfil his duty of supervision and oversight of navigational safety" while the other suspect, M.E., "who served as the third captain and watch officer at the time of the incident, failed to take the necessary measures to prevent the collision in a timely and effective manner."
