The Loss of the bulker Hera with 19 crew on February 13th was just the latest, sad statistic in a long list of disasters and near misses in the Bosporus Straits involving vessels of dubious quality. "The Hera was in such poor shape it couldn't even make a distress call," says Turkish pilot Capt Cahit Istikbal. Last October the Russian-flagged Khazar Star-2 struck the shore in Istanbul, causing damage to a historic building. An investigation pointed to navigational error brought about by difficult currents and the fact the KhazarStar-2 had no pilot on board.
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