Romania’s Interior Ministry has launched an operation to rescue seven Turkish sailors aboard a tugboat that ran into trouble in the Black Sea near the resort town of Neptun.

Axar.az reports, citing foreign media, that according to Romania’s Interior Ministry, the Turkish-flagged tugboat Ayaz Bey issued an international distress signal at around 4:20 a.m. after colliding with the Antigua and Barbuda-flagged vessel Mentor.

The two Turkish tugboats, Ayaz Bey and Ramazan Bey, had been towing the Mentor to Turkiye from waters near the Ukrainian port of Odesa, where the vessel had previously been damaged. There were no crew members aboard the towed vessel at the time of the incident.

The ministry said that the towing cables snapped overnight due to adverse weather conditions. Although the cables were subsequently reconnected, the Ayaz Bey collided with the Mentor.