A Russian Navy reconnaissance ship has sunk after colliding with another vessel near the Bosporus, the Russian Defense Ministry reported.

The hull of ‘the Liman,’ a 1,560-ton reconnaissance ship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, was breached below the waterline in the collision, the Defense Ministry said.

The Turkish coast guard said it rescued 78 people from the Russian ship, which was later confirmed by the Russian authorities.

“All crew members of the research ship of the Black Sea Fleet are alive and well and are currently preparing for evacuation from the Turkish rescue ship to a Russian ship,” the Defense Ministry said.

According to the Defense Ministry, ‘the Liman’ collided with another ship, ‘Ashot-7,’ about 40km northwest from the Bosporus Strait.

Media identified the other ship involved in the collision as the Togo-flagged livestock carrier ‘Youzarsif H.’

Advisers to Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim spoke to their Russian counterparts on Thursday to convey Ankara's sadness over the collision, according to Reuters. The Russian cabinet office said a phone call between Yildirim and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev was scheduled for later in the day.

‘The Liman’ was built during Soviet times in Poland and commissioned in 1970. It is mostly unarmed, but carries a radar station, a hydroacoustic detector and other reconnaissance equipment needed to track surface ships and submarines.