This was an appeal from the judgment of the Commercial Court of first instance (18 March 2014, 2014/15-2014/14).

The plaintiff applied for provisional attachment of a ship, arguing that it had provided an emergency response to the ship, which was owned by the objector to the provisional attachment. It further argued that it had rescued the ship's crew, that the ship on which the explosion occurred was a tanker, that it assisted in the rescue of the ship which was taking on water and sinking, and that it prevented other possible explosions by carrying out a cooling operation. The plaintiff requested the dismissal of the objection against the provisional attachment.

The Court of first instance held that the ship owned by the defendant was exposed to perils of the sea as a result of the fire on the ship that occurred offshore on 20 January 2014, and that the plaintiff provided salvage for the ship with its tug boats and fire extinguishers. The Court found that claims for a reward for the salvage operation of the vessel in respect of a ship which by itself or its cargo threatened damage to the environment are covered by art 1320.1.c of the Turkish Commercial Code (the TCC) [which is based on art 4.1.c of the MLM Convention 1993] and 1352.1.c of the TCC [which is based on art 1.1.c of the Arrest Convention 1999]. Hence, the Court dismissed the objection against the provisional attachment.

The defendant appealed to the Supreme Court of Appeal.

Held: The appeal is dismissed.