A cargo ship sank and its crew went missing after drones attacked two merchant vessels in Bulgaria's exclusive economic zone in the Black Sea on October 6, Bulgarian officials said, raising concerns about the widening risks to civilian shipping from the war in Ukraine.
The vessels were attacked by air and sea drones at about 3 a.m. local time, around 70 nautical miles (130 km) east of the Bulgarian coastal town of Byala, Prime Minister Rumen Radev said.
One of the ships, the Togo-flagged Alfa Watan, sank. The vessel was Turkish-owned and was reportedly heading towards the Romanian port of Sulina. Its cargo and the number of people aboard were not immediately clear.
A Bulgarian vessel that went to the scene found an overturned lifeboat, life jackets and rafts but no crew members, Radev said. A search-and-rescue operation was under way.
The second vessel, the grain carrier Able, was hit and caught fire. Its 18 crew members - 11 Turkish and seven Indian nationals - were rescued by the Bulgarian roll-on/roll-off vessel Dioscuria, Radev said. Two crew members, including the captain, were seriously injured and taken to a military hospital in Varna.
"This is an absolutely unacceptable attack, a gross violation of international law and maritime affairs," Radev said at an emergency government meeting, BTA reported.
He said it was not immediately known whether the drones had originated from Russia or Ukraine.
Rising Black Sea risks
The incident comes as attacks on commercial shipping in the Black Sea have increased, with vessels carrying Ukrainian grain among those hit, and as European governments warn of a growing threat from Russian hybrid warfare.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen condemned the attacks, saying the situation in the Black Sea was becoming increasingly concerning.
"Commercial ships – and innocent crews – are being targeted, with lives already lost at sea," von der Leyen said on X. "Attacks on civilian shipping are unacceptable."
She noted that the incident came a day after a Turkish ship carrying Ukrainian grain was hit and sunk off Romania.
Radev did not directly blame Russia for Tuesday's attack, but linked the incident to the war in Ukraine.
"As I have long maintained, if this war is not halted in time, it will continue to expand its geographical reach and increase risks, including the risk of a global conflict," he said, according to BNR.
Bulgaria, a NATO member, does not border Russia or Ukraine but occupies a strategically important position on the western Black Sea. Its exclusive economic zone covers more than 29,000 square kilometres.
President Iliana Iotova will convene Bulgaria's Consultative Council on National Security on October 7 to discuss risks to maritime security and critical infrastructure stemming from the war in Ukraine, her office said.
The Bulgarian authorities were also monitoring the sunken vessel and the surrounding area for possible environmental risks, Radev said.
The incident followed a separate attack near Ukraine's port of Odesa in which a Marshall Islands-flagged vessel was reportedly hit, killing one crew member and injuring seven others.
Drones hit two ships off Bulgaria's coast, search and rescue ongoing as one sank
Drones hit two ships off Bulgaria's coast and one of them sank, with the crew missing, the day after another drone attack sank a ship near Romania's shore in the Black Sea, in two consecutive drone attacks on NATO's Eastern flank countries.
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."
Bulgarian PM says drone attack on two ships is 'flagrant' breach of maritime law
The EU pledged "full solidarity" with its eastern members as the search went on for the sunken vessel's crew, and no one has yet been blamed for the strikes.
Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev has condemned a drone attack on two commercial ships in the Black Sea that sank one of them, calling it "a flagrant violation of maritime law"
"Such an attack within the Bulgarian exclusive economic zone is absolutely unacceptable," he told reporters on Tuesday at the start of an emergency government meeting on the strikes.
Sea and aerial drones hit the vessels at about 3am local time (2am CET), around 70 nautical miles east of the town of Byala according to Radev, the Bulgarian Telegraph Agency (BTA) reported. He did not say who was behind the attack.
Radev warned that unless the war in Ukraine is brought to an end, it will keep widening its reach and raising the risks, including that of a global conflict.
"The situation significantly complicates navigation in the Black Sea, drives up insurance premiums, and makes maritime traffic extremely difficult," Radev said.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said attacks on civilian shipping were "unacceptable" and that the EU stood "in full solidarity with our member states on the eastern flank".
"The situation in the Black Sea is increasingly concerning. Commercial ships – and innocent crews – are being targeted, with lives already lost at sea," she wrote on X.
The crew of the sunken ship are still missing and the search for survivors is continuing. Radev said the state's priority was to protect lives regardless of who was sailing in Bulgaria's economic zone.
The Bulgarian prime minister also addressed the Emil, a cargo ship attacked by Russian drones in August and now drifting towards Bulgaria's waters. Moscow confirmed the strike, claiming that the ship was carrying military equipment for Ukraine.
"We will not in any way allow the Bulgarian coast to be threatened," Radev said.
The emergency meeting brought together the defence, interior, transport and environment ministries, the presidency and the security services.
The attack came a day after a Turkish-owned cargo ship carrying grain in the Black Sea was hit by at least one drone and sank after catching fire.
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