Turkish military teams have disabled a second naval mine that was detected floating off Turkey’s Black Sea coast, Sabah newspaper reported on Monday, two days after the first such incident since the beginning of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Underwater Defence Teams were dispatched to the site off the coast of the town of İğneada near the Bulgarian border, where they secured the mine and “neutralized” it, according to the newspaper.
Turkey’s military on Saturday deactivated a mine that drifted in from the Black Sea, causing a loud explosion north of Istanbul, Sabah newspaper reported.
The incident took place days after a warning from Moscow that several of them had washed away from Ukrainian ports. Turkey shares a maritime border with both Russia and Ukraine, whose war is entering its fifth week.
Ukraine dismissed Russia’s warning as disinformation and an attempt to close off parts of the sea, Reuters reported.
The Bosporus, a key trade channel connecting the Black Sea and the Mediterranean, was closed for a few hours due to the suspected mine risk on Saturday, DPA news agency reported.
Ahval