Turkey’s defense ministry says military teams are working to disable a second naval mine that was detected floating off Turkey’s Black Sea coast.
On Monday, the ministry said Underwater Defense Teams that were dispatched to the site off the coast of Igneada, near the border with Bulgaria, had managed to secure the mine and were now working to “neutralize” it, The Associated Press said.
On Saturday, authorities closed the Bosporus — the landmark waterway between the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara — to traffic as a precaution as the Turkish coast guard responded to reports of a drifting mine-like object which was later “neutralized.”
The sighting of the explosive devices follows warnings that mines laid at the entrances to Ukrainian ports could break free in heavy weather and cross the Black Sea.
On March 18, Turkey issued a Navtex alert advising ships to keep a “sharp look out” and report any possible mines that had drifted from ports such as Odesa.
