Captain’s Body Recovered 13 Days After Tugberk Imamoglu Sank in the Marmara

Thirteen days after the cargo ship Tugberk Imamoglu sank in the Sea of Marmara, search teams recovered the body of captain Yasar Kayhan on 14 September 2026. Nine of the crew remain missing.

The ship went down in the early hours of 2 September after colliding with the tanker Alsu roughly 18 nautical miles south of Silivri, Istanbul. It sank in about 11 minutes. The Alsu was not carrying cargo at the time. Fourteen search and rescue ships and a helicopter were deployed to the area. No survivors were found and only an empty lifeboat was recovered.

The Tugberk Imamoglu was loaded with rolled steel. The wreck was found by sonar and underwater vehicles. BTA reported the captain's body was recovered about five kilometres from the wreck site.

The same waters saw a second incident days later, when a sanctioned Russian tanker lost engine power and had to be towed to Tekirdağ.