A container ship rolled over in the water mere feet from a port.
Despite their gigantic payloads, cargo ships tend not to capsize or tip over. However, there’s always an exception to the rule. Personnel at Ambarli Port in Turkey learned that all too well after the Amnah, a huge maritime shipping vessel, capsized in the port on camera.
An African cargo ship capsized in Istanbul’s Ambarli-Marpot Port mere feet from the loading area
All 15 crew members aboard the Amnah are safely on dry land after a disastrous capsizing. The vessel, a 28-year-old cargo ship from Comoros, listed heavily to its port side while taking on cargo. The imbalance caused the ship to roll in the water until much of its deck and shipping containers were underwater.
A dramatic video caught the Amnah capsizing and taking a gangplank with it as it did so. Worse yet, the video shows several containers sliding downward. Fortunately, no one was in the path of the moving Conex boxes. After all, a 20-foot shipping container can weigh well over 50,000 lbs. That’s not where you would want to be standing.
While no one died in the dramatic rollover, several crew members resorted to diving into the water to escape the capsizing vessel. What’s more, World Cargo News reports that emergency services deployed a floating barrier to mitigate potential waterway contamination after the capsizing.
The cause of the vessel’s disaster is reportedly “improper loading.” Reports also indicate a possible issue with ballast management. While that might seem wild, crews follow meticulous plans when loading these floating behemoths.
Loading crews use cranes to carefully load shipping containers. An unbalanced load or ballast issue can be disastrous. The same goes for offloading cargo at a ship’s destination. Crews use a combination of methodical unloading and ballast tank adjustments to keep ships upright and safe.
Check out the Instagram video of the partially sinking cargo ship below!
