Romanian coast guard opens fire on Turkish fishing boat

Romania’s coast guard opened fire on a Turkish boat that was fishing illegally in the Black Sea, according to the Romanian Border Police.

The incident occurred at about 65 miles east of Constanta. The Turkish boat, named Ostik Senol, didn’t stop when the Romanian coast guard asked them to and thus the Romanian sailors started firing warning shots.

The Romanian Border Police said the Turkish authorities identified the boat in the Istinye/Istanbul Port the following day and administratively sanctioned its crew for the illegal crossing of the border. On the other hand, the Turkish fishermen told the local media that they were in international waters and that three of them were injured by the bullets shot by the Romanian coast guard, local Digi24 reported. A video of the incident is available here.

This was not the first time when the Ostik Senol boat was involved in criminal activities, according to the Romanian Border Police, which also said that the illegal fishing carried out by Turkish boats has intensified since 2002 in the Exclusive Economic Zone of Romania.

“Only last year, in the joint actions of the Border Police with the National Agency for Fisheries and Aquaculture, about 1.4 tons of fish were recovered and about 33 km of nets of different types were taken out of the water,” reads the Border Police’s press release.

(Photo source: Politiadefrontiera.ro)