NAVY CREW SURVIVES SHIP SINKING IN THE BLACK SEA

MOSCOW A Russian naval reconnaissance ship sank Thursday after colliding with a freighter off Istanbul, but all crew members were rescued, the Defence Ministry said.

Turkey’s coastal safety authority said all 78 personnel from the Russian frigate Liman were safe, as were all aboard the freighter, the Togo-flagged Youzarsif H., which was carrying livestock.

The Defence Ministry said a hole was punched in the starboard side of the Liman during the collision, which occurred midday about 40 km from the Bosphorus Strait. Its cause wasn’t clear.

The Liman was part of the Black Sea Fleet.

The Interfax news agency reported that it spent much of the winter in the Mediterranean off the coast of Syria and returned to the Black Sea to monitor NATO exercises in February.

The rescued Russian sailors were all aboard a Turkish rescue vessel and would be picked up by a nearby Russian cargo ship, the Ulus Star, the ministry said. .