Sailors missing after drone attack on Black Sea merchant ships

Bulgarian officials launched search-and-rescue efforts after drones attacked two commercial shipping vessels in the Black Sea late Monday night. The attack damaged both merchant vessels, causing one to sink, Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev reported Tuesday. Crew members safely evacuated the second vessel after a fire sparked on board, he added. While not directly blaming Moscow for the attack, Radev in his address briefly referenced Russia’s intensifying war with Ukraine. International laws were being violated, and civilian vessels were being attacked, which was altogether absolutely unacceptable, he said.

How many sailors are still missing? The Alfa Watan, flying under the Togo flag, sank at the scene, and the crew’s status remained unclear at the time, Radev said. All 18 crewmembers aboard the Able, the second ship flying under the Palau flag, were safely evacuated after the ship caught fire. Two sailors were flown to a port hospital to receive medical treatment, the prime minister added.

The attacks marked the second time this week that drones launched targeted attacks on commercial ships in the Black Sea. A separate grain-carrying commercial ship suffered a drone attack on Sunday, killing two crew members, Romanian Foreign Affairs Minister Toiu Oana reported Monday. The Romanian coast guard rescued the remaining 11 crew members, several of whom suffered injuries, she added. Oana underscored the Black Sea’s importance as a key shipping route for wheat and grain, accounting for over 20% of the global trade supply.

Who launched the attack? European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in a Tuesday statement reported that officials continued working to identify those responsible for the attacks. The circumstances were unclear, but the pattern of attacking civilian vessels was nonetheless concerning and unacceptable, she wrote.

Ukraine’s Navy collaborated with the Bulgarian Navy and confirmed the attack from Russian maritime and aerial drones, according to a Tuesday statement from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. This attack marked another effort by Russia to make the western Black Sea unnavigable, he added.