A Turkish-managed oil tanker that had previously called at Russian ports was hit by four “external explosions” while at anchor last week off the coast of Senegal, its operator, Besiktas Shipping, said on Monday, in an incident that flooded the ship’s engine room.
Besiktas Shipping said the Panama-flagged tanker Mersin was anchored off Dakar, the Senegalese capital, on Africa’s Atlantic coast, when the blasts struck at about 23:45 Coordinated Universal Time on November 27. The company said seawater entered the engine room after the explosions but that the crew brought the situation under control.
“All crew members are safe; there are no injuries, no loss of life, and no pollution,” Besiktas said in a written statement about the Mersin. It added that the ship “remains safe and stable” and “poses no navigational or safety risks to its surroundings,” while technical and forensic investigations continue.
Incident maritime maîtrisé dans la nuit du 27 au 28 novembre, le navire « MERSIN » a signalé un incident technique sérieux ayant provoqué une entrée d’eau.
Cellule de crise et déploiement d’un dispositif antipollution avec @HASSMAR2006 , @MarineNationale @ANAM et PAD pic.twitter.com/mzYfvPmgwt
— Port Autonome de Dakar L’officielle (@portdakar) November 30, 2025
Authorities in Senegal described the event more cautiously. The Autonomous Port of Dakar said in a communiqué that during the night of November 27 to 28 the Mersin reported a “technical incident” off Dakar that led to flooding in the engine room and a distress call from the crew.
Senegal’s port authority said it activated an emergency crisis unit and deployed navy vessels, tugboats and specialized teams to the tanker to stabilize the situation and prevent any spill of fuel into the sea. Officials said all crew members were taken off the ship safely and that anti-pollution barriers were placed around the vessel as a precaution while plans were made to transfer its fuel to other ships.
Besiktas said it was “working in full cooperation with the authorized insurers and the relevant Senegalese authorities, managing the consequences of the incident and supporting the ongoing technical and forensic investigations.” The company did not speculate publicly on who or what might have caused the explosions.
Mersin has been part of trade in Russian oil products under Western sanctions imposed after Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Bloomberg, citing analytics company Kpler, reported that the tanker was carrying gasoil and had called at Russian ports several times this year, including the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk and the nearby terminal of Taman.
Ukrainian officials have not claimed any role in the Senegal incident, and neither Besiktas nor Senegalese authorities have pointed to any state or group as responsible. Kyiv has, however, openly targeted what it calls Russia’s “shadow fleet” of older tankers that move Russian oil despite sanctions. On November 28 Ukrainian naval drones hit two sanctioned tankers, the Kairos and the Virat, in the Black Sea near Turkey’s coast, setting at least one ship on fire and forcing the evacuation of dozens of crew members.
Those Black Sea attacks took place within Turkey’s exclusive economic zone and drew protests from Ankara, which warned that strikes on commercial shipping threaten navigational safety and regional trade. Analysts say the hit on the Mersin off Senegal, even with its cause still unclear, underlines how vessels tied to Russian oil flows now face heightened risks, not only near Russia and Ukraine but along long-distance routes in African and Atlantic waters as well.
