A search operation is still underway in the Sea of Marmara, 12 days after a cargo ship sank in a collision with another commercial vessel off Istanbul's Silivri coast. Ten crew members from the Tuğberk Imamoğlu remain missing.

The collision happened on 2 September, roughly 18 nautical miles south of Silivri, when the Turkish-flagged Alsu — en route from Kocaeli to Aliağa in İzmir province — struck the Tuğberk Imamoğlu, which had sailed from İskenderun in Hatay towards Karadeniz Ereğli on the Black Sea. The struck vessel went down, and contact with its 10-strong crew was lost shortly afterwards.

Recovery teams located the wreck four days into the operation. The naval vessel TCG Akın used advanced sonar alongside a remotely operated underwater vehicle to pinpoint it on the seabed, allowing authorities to focus their search for the missing sailors. Since then, crews from the Turkish Coast Guard, the General Directorate of Coastal Safety and the Naval Forces have been working around the clock, with regular updates passed to families waiting at a liaison point set up on the Silivri shoreline.

For anyone travelling through the region, the incident is a reminder that the Sea of Marmara is one of the world's busiest shipping corridors, funneling traffic between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean through the Bosphorus. Ferries and leisure boats in the area share water with heavy commercial traffic, and disruptions or exclusion zones can appear quickly when incidents occur. Visitors heading to Istanbul's western shoreline towns, including Silivri — a popular weekend escape for city residents — should be aware that rescue operations of this scale remain active in the waters just offshore.

There is no indication so far of when the operation will conclude, and officials have not commented on the likelihood of finding the crew alive more than a week after the sinking. The story remains, at its heart, about the families keeping vigil on the coast rather than about travel disruption — but it underlines how maritime traffic and coastal life intersect around Istanbul, and why caution and up-to-date local information matter for anyone taking to the water there.

Story reported by Daily Sabah.