ISTANBUL - Maritime officials in this Turkish city of 12 million people struggled for hours Sunday to retrieve several LPG tanker trucks from the Bosphorus Strait after the ship carrying them sank.
The accident raised alarm over the safety of Istanbul`s coastal areas, including residential districts, in case of an explosion.
Authorities closed the Bosphorus Strait to maritime traffic after a roll-on-roll-off (ro-ro) vessel carrying seven tanker trucks loaded with 138 tonnes of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) sank in the narrow waterway, which separates the European and Asian sides of Istanbul, late Saturday.
The authorities said they took control of the drifting vehicles after battling bad weather and the treacherous currents of the Bosphorus for about 10 hours.
"The danger is over... We were lucky," Baris Tozar, deputy undersecretary of the transport ministry, told reporters, adding that an explosion would have endangered long stretches of the coast.
The official explained that four of the trucks were tied safely at a quay on the city`s Asian side.
The three others were still lying on rocks at the shore of the Ahirkapi district on the city`s European side, but were under control, he said.
One of them had begun to leak after hitting a rock, but all gas had been discharged and posed no danger.
Unable to apparoach the three tankers from sea due to bad weather, the authorities were planning to tow them to a safe dock later in the day, Tozar said, adding that the operation still required a measure of caution.
"There is still some danger, even though it is not a serious one," he said. "All precautions have been taken."
Authorities closed all traffic on the seafront road and evacuated fishermen`s facilities on the coast.
Fire-fighters and ambulances were also put on alert.
Officials also launched an investigation into the ro-ro vessel, which Tozar said was sailing in the waterway with dangerous cargo on board outside the permitted hours and despite the bad weather conditions.
The Bosphorus was expected to be re-opened later Sunday.
The waterway, which links the Black and Marmara seas, is one of the busiest in the world.
Together with the Dardanelles Strait, on the opposite side of the Marmara Sea, it forms the only outlet for Black Sea countries to the oceans.
The increasing passage in recent years of vessels carrying oil and gas has forced Turkish authorities to step up safety measures and impose some restrictions to the traffic, which drew protests particularly from Russia.
In 1979 and in 1994, tanker crashes in the Bosphorus claimed 41 and 28 lives respectively.
03/13/2005 12:13 GMT