A massive search is under way in the Black Sea for the crew of a cargo ship that sank after drones struck two commercial vessels off Bulgaria's coast early Tuesday, the day after another drone attack sank a Turkish grain ship off the coast of Romania, killing 2 crew members.
Sea and aerial drones hit the ships at about 3am local time (2am CET), around 70 nautical miles east of the town of Byala in Bulgaria's exclusive economic zone, Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev said.
The crew of the Bulgarian ferry Dioscuria, which was in the area, saw an explosion on the first ship and rushed to the scene, Radev confirmed. They found an overturned lifeboat and life jackets but no one from the crew.
Officials have not said how many people were on board, nor the origin of the drones.
A second ship was attacked and caught fire, with all 18 of its crew rescued by the Dioscuria. Eleven are Turkish and seven Indian, according to the televised address from Radev.
Two of them were hospitalised, one with burns and one with a head injury. The other 16 were being brought ashore on a Border Police patrol boat.
Radev said two helicopters were sent to Varna to pick up rescue teams and a Su-25 aircraft was deployed to carry out aerial reconnaissance over the area. The operation is being run by the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre.
Both vessels sent distress signals during the night and one disappeared from Border Police radar at about 9am local time (8am CET), public broadcaster BNR reported.
Bulgarian shipping news site Maritime.bg named the sunken ship as the Alfa Watan and the second as the Palau-flagged Able. It said the strikes were the first attack on shipping in Bulgaria's exclusive economic zone.
Both vessels are Turkish-owned, according to the Equasis merchant shipping database.
Ship tracking website vesselfinder.com shows the Alfa Watan was sailing under the flag of Togo and was headed for the Romanian port of Sulina.
The second ship was carrying wheat and sailing south, Radev said. The cargo of the sunken Alfa Watan is not yet known.
Radev, who called the attack "absolutely unacceptable", did not say who launched the drones, while European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called the developments "concerning".
Three attacks on civilian shipping in the Black Sea within two days
Tuesday's attack occurred the day after a Turkish-owned cargo ship carrying grain from Ukraine to Italy was attacked off Romania's coast in the Black Sea by at least one drone and sank after catching fire, killing two crew members.
Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry said the ship's captain, Azerbaijani national Rustam Ismayil oglu Hasanov, died and his body was being repatriated. A second Azerbaijani crew member, Mahammad Hamza oglu Suleymanzade, is still missing and the search and rescue operation is ongoing. Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry said their families were informed and they were receiving logistical and financial support.
11 other crew members were rescued by the Romanian authorities. Three Azerbaijani sailors and one Indian crew member among them are receiving emergency medical care in Romania.
Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry explicitly reiterated its urgent warning to Azerbaijani citizens to refrain from travelling to active conflict zones, working in high-risk areas, or taking employment on transport vessels operating along contested maritime corridors.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy blamed Russia for yesterday's sinking of the cargo ship and called it "a horrific strike by two Russian drones on a civilian vessel" in neutral waters.
India condemned Tuesday's attack as part of the crew members were Indian nationals. The Indian Foreign Ministry released a statement saying that "India views these attacks on commercial shipping and seafarers with grave concern," adding that "the targeting of traffic in international waterways is severely undermining global commerce and welfare of people across the world."
