ANKARA, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- Turkish underwater demolition teams have disabled a mine in the Black Sea, the defense ministry said Wednesday.
A mine was detected off the coast of the Kiyikoy district in the northwestern province of Kirklareli and teams from the Underwater Defense were dispatched to the scene, the ministry said in a statement.
"The mine has been secured and defused by the teams," it noted.
This is the fourth such incident since the start of the Ukrainian crisis on Feb. 24.
In April, Türkiye detected three mines in the waters of Bosphorus Strait, which connects the Black Sea with the Marmara Sea.
Turkish navy and its mine-hunting vessels are monitoring the Black Sea for stray mines, according to the defense ministry.
Ukraine's navy had deployed mines near the ports of Odessa, Ochakov, Chernomorsk and Yuzhny since the start of the Russian "special military operation," Russia's Federal Security Service said in March.
Ukraine refuted the Russian claim. ■
