Two Turkish-flagged commercial ships collided in the Marmara Sea off Istanbul’s Silivri district around 3:00-3:15 a.m. local time on September 2, 2026 [1, 2, 3]. The vessels involved were the Tugberk Imamoglu, a 90-meter-long cargo ship carrying 4,200 tons of rolled sheet metal and rebar, and the Alsu, an empty oil tanker [1, 3, 4, 5, 6].
The Tugberk Imamoglu sank rapidly, believed to have gone down within about 11 minutes after the collision, while the Alsu was damaged but did not sink [1, 7, 4, 5]. Contact was lost with all 10 crew members on the Tugberk Imamoglu, all Turkish nationals, and they remain missing [1, 7, 3, 8, 9, 4, 5, 6]. Transport Minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu said, "We received the emergency call at 0326. If we accept the captain’s reported time of 0315, we can say the sinking occurred very rapidly, within just 11 minutes. We spotted life buoys and a lifeboat but it was empty. Unfortunately, no survivors have been found so far. Search and rescue operations are continuing by sea and air" [1].
The crash happened about 18 nautical miles off Silivri, on the western edge of Istanbul province, in waters around 900 meters deep [1, 3, 4, 5, 6]. The Alsu was en route from Kocaeli to Aliaga, and the Tugberk Imamoglu was traveling from Iskenderun Port to Karadeniz Eregli [3, 9, 6]. Tugberk Imamoglu was operated by Zeybe Denizcilik, while the Alsu is operated by Ozpulathane Deniz Tasimaciligi [9].
Search and rescue efforts involve multiple vessels, helicopters, drones, and aircraft and continued into September 3 [1, 7, 2, 3, 8, 9, 5, 6]. An empty lifeboat from the Tugberk Imamoglu was found at sea [1, 4, 5]. The collision came three days after another deadly ferry accident off Northern Cyprus involving Turkish nationals [1, 4, 5].
