War mines in Ukraine on the outskirts of the Bosphorus.. Turkey warns and fears of a navigational disaster that may reach the Mediterranean

ANKARA

- The war between Russia and Ukraine rolled outside the borders, reaching its fragments on the outskirts of the Bosphorus Strait, amid warnings of their arrival in the Mediterranean, after the Turkish authorities found, on Saturday, the second sea mine within a few hours.

This development comes days after Russia announced that Ukrainian mines had been planted in the Black Sea and that the waters would likely wash them towards the Mediterranean, threatening international navigation.

Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar announced that he had held talks with Russia and Ukraine, after discovering a sea mine in the Bosphorus Strait, pointing out that a team of the Underwater Defense Forces (SAS) neutralized the mine that was spotted by a merchant ship in the vicinity of the Bosphorus in earlier time.

Akar indicated that the Turkish Ministry of Defense has conducted the required coordination with the Coast Guard and other competent authorities in order to ensure the continuation of the safe movement of ships, stressing that "necessary measures" have been taken and that the Turkish naval forces continue their work and are closely following the situation.

Threatened navigation

On Saturday, the Turkish authorities were forced to suspend the movement of ships through the Bosphorus in both directions until further notice for security reasons, against the background of the accident.

Two days ago, the Russian Federal Security Service accused the Ukrainian military of planting about 420 naval mines in the waters of the Black Sea in the vicinity of the ports of Odessa, Ochakov, Chernomorsk and Yuzhny, against the background of the war, warning that if these mines escaped from their anchors, they might reach the Bosphorus and then to the basin The Mediterranean Sea.

In light of this announcement, the Turkish Navy asked the ships to track potential mines, while Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan confirmed that the Ministry of Defense is taking all necessary measures, and that there is no cause for concern.

For her part, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova indicated that the naval mines planted by Kyiv forces in the waters of Ukrainian ports are besieging more than 60 commercial ships with their crews and cargo.

The Turkish newspaper, Hurriyet, reported that the "stray mines" reached the outskirts of the Bosphorus through the current from the Danube River.

Meanwhile, the Turkish AHABER channel stated that the country's navy issued a naval notice, "Navtex", in which it warned ships of the danger of mines.

Scan

As for the former Chief of Staff of the Turkish Naval Forces, Admiral Cihat Yaci, he stated that the current direction of the Danube River is the Bosphorus Strait in Istanbul, and any mine drift will go towards the strait, which is a very dangerous matter.

Admiral Yaji told Al Jazeera Net, "Mine weighing 172 kilograms can be detected by our available sonar mine sweeper, but it is difficult to detect mines weighing 30 kilograms, which require an extensive and arduous search."

He called on the Turkish naval forces to conduct a survey in the waters near the Bosphorus to detect these small mines.

The former Chief of Staff of the Turkish Naval Forces pointed out that if the mine touches the ship, it will explode and drown it, and what is happening hinders the process of sailing in the Black Sea, stressing that mines are a cheap, dangerous and prohibited weapon.

And he added, "If a mine collides with one of the ships loaded with crude oil, it will be a great disaster," also warning of the arrival of stray mines to gas exploration ships in the Black Sea, so he said, "Measures must be taken around the ships' area."

Regarding the possibility of it reaching the depth of the Bosphorus Strait and exploding on the shores, Yaci stressed that this possibility is small, due to the measures taken by the Turkish Navy on the outskirts of the strait, and the best evidence is that the teams working on two mines before they reached the strait.

He added that a safe corridor should be established for the Turkish naval minesweepers to conduct a continuous survey of the corridor, and direct maritime transport.

Admiral Jihad Yaci: Any drift of mines towards the Bosphorus strait would constitute a great danger (Al-Jazeera)

For his part, the Turkish military and strategic expert Ismail Hakki said that the mines pose a great threat to Istanbul, and that any threat to trade or lives is the responsibility of the warring countries and they need compensation.

Regarding the arrangement of the most dangerous waters currently as a result of these mines, Haqqi told Al Jazeera Net, "Because the mines went out of control, the waters of the Black Sea and the Sea of ​​Azov rank first in terms of the danger of their explosion, followed by the waters of the Bosphorus Strait, then the Sea of ​​Marmara, the Dardanelles Strait, then the Aegean Sea, and finally The waters of the Mediterranean Sea, and

he stressed that if mines reach the Mediterranean, a navigational disaster will occur that will affect for a long time global trade.

sea ​​mines

According to Turkish and Russian reports, sea mines (YM) were produced during the Soviet Union.

The mine, which has a volume of 172 kilograms, contains 20 kilograms of TNT explosives, and is placed in water at a depth of one to two meters, and the mechanism of its detonation is through "contact".

Naval mines (YRM) weigh 30 kilograms, and were produced in the era of the Soviet Union as well, and the active explosives in them weigh about 3 kilograms, and they also detonate through contact.

It is known that this quality is available in Russia and Ukraine.

The Russian Federal Security had said that the Ukrainian Navy had planted YM and YRM minefields, with an estimated number of 420 mines, near the ports of "Odessa" in the northern Black Sea, and because of the storms, the cables connecting them to the lower anchors were cut off, and under the influence of the winds it may drift to the western part of the Black Sea.

According to Russian reports, the mines were manufactured in the first half of the 20th century and were laid by Ukraine at the beginning of the war on February 24, which was denied by the Ukrainian authorities.