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A fire broke out Friday evening aboard a foreign-flagged tanker off the coast of Kefken, in Kocaeli’s Kandira district in northwestern Türkiye, triggering a large-scale emergency response and raising concerns of a possible external attack in the Black Sea.
The blaze erupted under still-unknown circumstances aboard the 274-meter tanker KAIROS, which was en route from Egypt to Russia’s Novorossiysk Port and sailing approximately 52 miles from Istanbul’s Türkeli Lighthouse.
Initial reports indicated the fire may have been caused by an external factor. Rescue units were immediately dispatched to evacuate the 25 crew members on board.
In a statement, the Kocaeli Governor’s Office confirmed the deployment of teams from the Coastal Safety Directorate, the Coast Guard, the National Medical Rescue Team (UMKE), and ambulance services.
“A fire of unknown cause has occurred on a foreign-flagged vessel off Kefken in Kandira. Coastal Safety, Coast Guard, UMKE, and ambulance teams have been dispatched to the area, and necessary interventions are being carried out,” the statement said. “We extend our well wishes and respectfully inform the public.”
The Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure later confirmed that all 25 crew members aboard the KAIROS had been safely rescued. The tanker, sailing under the Gambia flag, was reportedly hit by an explosion followed by a fire.
“The Nene Hatun emergency response vessel is on site. The KAIROS vessel is burning. We will determine whether this was an attack or a mine. These are Gambia-flagged ships,” Transport Minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu said.
He added that the crew included 19 Chinese nationals, four Bangladeshis, one Myanmarese, and one Indonesian. “The crew members have no health issues; medical teams are conducting precautionary checks.
The Directorate General of Maritime Affairs said the fire occurred about 28 nautical miles off Türkiye’s coast. The Ministry deployed the KEGM-9 and KEGM-10 fast rescue boats, the tugboat Kurtarma-12, and the emergency response vessel Nene Hatun.
“The 25 personnel on board were safely retrieved from the sea by our KEGM-10 rescue boat,” the ministry said.
In a separate incident, hours after the KAIROS fire, the Directorate said another tanker, identified as VIRAT, was reported hit approximately 35 nautical miles offshore in the Black Sea.
Rescue teams and a commercial vessel were dispatched to the VIRAT, and all 20 crew members aboard were reported to be in good condition.
Meanwhile, Transport Minister Uraloglu underlined that the "initial assessment indicates an external intervention. Whether this was caused by a mine, a drone, or something else is within the realm of possibility.”
A number of naval mines have been located and destroyed in the Black Sea since the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, as mines laid by both sides to protect their coastlines have drifted in storms and created hazards across the region. In response, NATO members Türkiye, Bulgaria and Romania, all of which border the Black Sea, established a naval Mine Countermeasures Group in 2024.
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