Starting as the Volgo-Balt 189, the MV Arvin was originally built in 1974 in Czechoslovakia as a lake/river freighter. She was sold and reflagged several times through her life. She was named Arvin in 1997 by the Delphin Maritime Co. Ltd., the name she kept for the rest of her career.[1]
The Volgo-Balt class were lake/river freighters, meant to sail within generally calm water, and were not intended for the high seas. Nevertheless, many of them have seen use on and around the Black Sea. Several of these have sunk, including the, lost in 2019, killing six of 13 crew.[2] Two months after the Arvin sank, sank in the Black Sea, with 10 of 13 crew surviving.[3]
In 2020, port officials in Georgia noted severe deck corrosion and poorly maintained weather hatches on the Arvin, suggesting that the ship should be scrapped.[4] Her owner kept her at sea, however. She was due for a major audit in April 2021.
On 2 January 2021, the ship left Poti, Georgia, headed for Burgas, Bulgaria. She carried approximately 2,900 tons of urea to be used as fertilizer. She sought shelter from adverse weather off the coast of Sinop, Turkey, on 5 January 2021, where she remained for nine days. On the 14th, she again set sail, only to anchor at Bartın, Turkiye, the next day in anticipation of further adverse weather.[5]
On 17 January 2021, the weather worsened. Heavy seas of 2m–3mm (07feet–10feetm) with winds at force 5-6 (17-) caused the vessel to pitch and roll. At approximately 11:00 am local time, the captain ordered the crew to provide additional control from the main engines. At approximately 12:20 pm, the Arvin broke in two amidships. The captain immediately radioed a distress call, and soon after triggered an alarm and sent a message over the intercom to abandon ship.[6]
Ten of the twelve crew gathered on the poop deck, most donning immersion suits and life jackets; the Master (or Captain) and First Officer could not make it to the gathering but had been helped into immersion suits by the Second Officer before he joined the others; most said only the Chief Engineer was without an immersion suit despite there being enough on board, but the Welder reported that the Deck Cadet also had no immersion suit.
As the vessel began to list to port, one or two Cadets fell into the water, possibly including the Deck Cadet who had not yet donned an immersion suit, and within another two minutes the remaining crew began to leave the vessel intentionally. A total of five, including the Third Officer, Cook, Oiler (Motorman), Third Engineer, and a Cadet made it into a life raft, while several others including the Bosun jumped into the sea. The Chief Engineer and Second Engineer jumped into the sea last, of those on the poop deck.
According to crew interviews, two pairs of crew members, of the four or more crew members who did not make the life raft, held onto two separate pieces of wood to stay afloat. The swell prevented the lifeboats and swimmers from joining each other. Not all who made it into the raft or held onto the wood survived. The Turkish Coast Guard was on the scene within 2.5 hours, rescuing six living persons and recovering three bodies. The remaining three bodies of the six total who died were never found.
Survivors were the Cadet with an immersion suit who had fallen into the water, the Chief Engineer who had gone into the water without an immersion suit, the Second Officer also in an immersion suit, and three of those in immersion suits in the raft: the Welder, the Second Engineer, and the Motorman (Oiler). The bodies of the Cook, a Cadet and the First Officer were recovered. The bodies of the Master (Captain), Bosun and the Deck Cadet without an immersion suit were not recovered. [7]