The operating officer on duty learned of the damage to the ship at 0:28 local time. The captain of the tanker reported a hole received at 23:20 in the engine room near the waterline on the starboard side.
“The ship was at the southern approach to the Kerch Strait,” the ministry said in a statement. The crew, 11 people, was not injured. The ship remained afloat.
Tugboats and rescue vessels of the Azovo-Chernomorsky branch of the Maritime Rescue Service were sent to the emergency area.
Preparations are now underway to pump the aft ballast tanks and install a patch, they added at Rosmorrechflot.
