A Russian sailor died and two others were being treated for suspected poisoning on Wednesday following a toxic leak inside a tanker just off Istanbul, local authorities said.

Officials were alerted to the emergency aboard the Panama-flagged tanker "Swanlake" at 5:30 pm when the vessel was several miles from Istanbul's Asian coastline, the governor's office said in a statement .

"The incident is believed to have been caused by a leak in the vessel's cold tank. One crew member died and two others were poisoned and are under observation," it said.

A cold tank is a refrigerated storage section inside a tanker, which is normally heavily insulated. It was not clear what this particular vessel was carrying.

"Efforts are under way to evacuate the 10 crew members and two injured individuals o

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