黒海に機雷 トルコ漁師、海に出られず

【ＡＦＰ＝時事】トルコの漁師、シャヒン・アフストさんが恐れている最悪の事態は、機雷に当たって海の藻くずとなることだ。（写真は漁師のアフストさん）
　ボスポラス海峡に面したイスタンブール県北部ルメリフェネリ村。アフストさんは普段、タラ科のホワイティングやヒメジ科のウミヒゴイ、カタクチイワシなどを取っている。
　しかし、黒海の沖合２キロほどの場所で先月、一つ目の機雷が見つかって以来、多くの漁師と同じく船を出していない。
　先月２８日には二つ目が見つかり、村人の不安は高まった。今月６日には黒海に浮かぶトルコ北西部ケフケン島沖で三つ目が見つかった。
　トルコ当局は事故を懸念しており、機雷はウクライナ沿岸から嵐で流されてきたとの見方を示している。
　一つ目を見つけた地元漁師の一人、アフメト・タルラシさんは機雷について「大きかった。たる半分くらいあった。（トルコ海軍の特殊）部隊が機雷を無効化するのをみんなで上から見ていた」と語った。
　ロシア国防省は先月末、ウクライナが沿岸を防衛するために敷設した機雷３７０個のうち１０個を除去したと発表。これに対し、ウクライナはロシアの主張を否定し、ロシア海軍がウクライナの評判を落とすために機雷を流したと非難した。
　ルメリフェネリの港では１日、４０メートルのトロール船を含む約１００隻が待機していた。ベテラン漁師のセフキ・デニズさん（４２）は「知り合いの９割は（海に出るのを）やめた」と語った。
　トルコ当局が夜間の漁を禁止したことに加え、軽油価格が高騰していることから、漁期を３週間残して漁を終えることにした漁師も多い。
　レジェプ・タイップ・エルドアン大統領は１日、「当面の間、機雷が問題になることはないが、油断は禁物だ」と述べた。
　２４時間態勢で機雷の捜索が続けられている。デニズさんは「今、機雷は１０個あると言われているが、さらに流れてきたらどうなるだろうか？ 黒海は大きな海ではない。湖のようなものだ」と懸念を示した。
　ルメリフェネリでは１９８０年代に２度、第２次世界大戦時の機雷による事故があった。漁師のシャバン・ウチャルさん（３２）は当時まだ生まれていなかった。だが、村では鮮明な記憶として伝えられている。
　ウチャルさんは「１９８３年の事故は港で機雷が爆発し、村人５人が死んだ。１９８９年の事故は海上での網揚げ中に機雷が船を巻き込んで爆発し、４人が亡くなった」と説明した。当時を知るデニズさんによると、犠牲者の遺体は見つかっていない。
　デニズさんは、昨年３万８５００隻が通航した海上交通の要衝、ボスポラス海峡に機雷が入り込むことを恐れている。イスタンブールを分断するボスポラス海峡は、幅が７００メートルもない狭い箇所もある。
　海での事故率は１０％だが、「ボスポラス海峡では１００％だ」と述べた。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2022/04/15-12:44）

Turkish fisherman Sahin Afsut fears the worst: hitting a mine and disappearing underwater in the blink of an eye.
Like many fishermen in Rumelifeneri, a village set on the rocks of the Bosphorus in northern Istanbul, Afsut and his team remain in port since the discovery of a drifting mine last month in the Black Sea.
Fears grew after a second mine was found on March 28, which could have come from Ukraine where Russia launched an invasion in February.
A third stray mine was found Wednesday in the Black Sea off the town of Kefken in northwestern Turkey.
Turkish authorities fear an accident and believe the mines became unmoored from the Ukrainian coast during storms.
If you hit (a mine), you're finished, says Afsut, wearing a grey cap in front of his small trawler from which he usually catches whiting, red mullet and anchovies.
He did not see the first mine two kilometres (1.2 miles) offshore, first discovered by a local fisherman but several others described the scene.
It was large, like half a barrel. We watched from above there, the (special Turkish navy) units neutralised it, says 55-year-old Ahmet Tarlaci who has been a fisherman for 43 years.
- '90 percent stopped' -
The Turkish navy warned five days before the first was found on March 26 of the risk of mines coming from Ukrainian waters.
But the mines arrived quickly, even the Turkish armed forces were surprised, Tarlaci says.
The Russian defence ministry last week said 420 mines -- 370 mines of them in the Black Sea -- were placed by Ukraine to protect its coast but around 10 had broken off.
Kyiv dismissed Moscow's version of events, accusing the Russian navy of letting the mines wander to discredit Ukraine.
At Rumelifeneri port, where around 100 boats, from small fishing boats to 40-metre (131-foot) trawler boats were waiting Friday, 90 percent of people that we know have stopped going out to sea, says fisherman Sefki Deniz, 42.
Turkish officials have banned fishing at night, and with the price of diesel reaching spectacular heights, many fishermen decided to end the fishing season three weeks ahead of time.
We already have financial losses, there shouldn't be any human losses, says Deniz, wearing plastic boots and a blue fleece.
The fisherman regrets the little information provided by officials who say they cannot reveal how many mines there are, where they came from or how dangerous they may be.
For the time being, (the mines) are not a problem, but we won't let our guard down, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday.
They speak now of 10 mines and what if the others wander off? The Black Sea is not a large sea, it's like a lake, says Deniz, despite 24-hour searches by minehunters in the area.
- 'Never found their bodies' -
Across from us, there is Ukraine, Russia: if the wind blows violently from the north, it's only a question of time before the mines arrive in Turkey's waters, fears fishing captain Saban Ucar, 32.
The 30-40 metre (98-foot to 131-foot) fishing boats have radars, sonars... but the 9-10 metre boats only have binoculars, he says from a building overlooking the port.
Ucar was not born at the time, but the memory is still vivid in the village of two accidents in the 1980s caused by mines dating back to World War II.
There was one that exploded at the port in 1983, five people from the village died. And in 1989, it happened at sea while lifting a net, the mine exploded and so did the boat: four people died.
We never found their bodies, says Deniz, one of the veterans at the port.
The fisherman now fears a mine will be able to make its way to the Bosphorus Strait used by 38,500 ships last year.
The strait, which crosses Istanbul, is in some places less than 700 metres (2,296 feet) wide.
At sea, the risk (of an accident) is 10 percent, Deniz says, adding: In the Bosphorus, it's 100 percent.