CNN: Cargo ship collides into Istanbul coast, closing the Bosphorus strait
Bystander Video from twitter
Container ship SONGA IRIDIUM reported to Bosphorus Traffic Control engine failure at 1200 LT (UTC +3) Dec 27, while transiting Bsphorus in southern direction en route from Ukraine, Black sea. The ship veered starboard and moved towards the embankment. In an attempt to deaden inertion and stop or at least, mitigate impact, SONGA IRIDIUM, judging from videos, dropped both anchors, however starboard anchor was lost.
In an emergency anchoring operation both anchors have to be dropped, but with a short delay in order to triangulate. Strive to obtain a 1:3 depth/chain ratio or better. Paying out the correct chain length is critical. In case there’s less cable paid out, the anchor won’t really make the required full contact with the seabed, defeating the very purpose of dropping it in the first place. Too much could result in losing the anchor. In an emergency braking operation knowledge about the local sea bottom is neccessary, normally the pilot should be familiar with that.