Turkey: Discovery of a second floating mine near the coast

The Turkish Ministry of Defense announced the discovery of a mine, which may have drifted from Ukraine, on Monday off Ignada, northwest Turkey, after the first mine was disabled on Saturday at the entrance to the Bosphorus Strait.

“A mine was detected off Ignida near the Bulgarian border” on the Black Sea, the ministry said on Twitter, adding that Turkish Navy special operations units had been dispatched to the scene.

The ministry added that the mine was isolated and “intervention began to neutralize it.”

The first mine was discovered on Saturday, and the Turkish Navy neutralized it. A fisherman said he saw this mine two kilometers from Rumelifeneri, at the entrance to the Bosphorus, north of Istanbul.

Ankara said it had spoken with Ukrainian and Russian authorities and continued to “coordinate with them on this issue.”

A few days ago, the Turkish authorities warned of the dangers arising from the mines coming from the Ukrainian coast, which could have separated due to a storm, by posting a message on the Naval Warning System NAVTEX.

Underwater mines must be equipped with systems that render them harmless if dismantled, according to the 1907 Hague Convention.

But old mines may lack such systems and pose a risk, according to Turkish media.

The Turkish authorities did not specify whether the discovered mines, although old, were equipped with such mechanisms or not.