Ship sinks and crew missing after Black Sea drone attack

A commercial cargo vessel has sunk and its crew remains unaccounted for following a drone strike in the Black Sea, Bulgarian authorities reported. A second merchant vessel sustained damage in the same area, though its crew was evacuated safely.

Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev announced that the incidents occurred roughly 70 miles off the eastern coastal community of Byala, inside Bulgaria's exclusive economic zone. The assaults, which took place around 03:00 local time, involved both aerial and maritime uncrewed craft.

The ship that went down was identified as the Alfa Watan, a Turkish-owned general cargo freighter sailing under the flag of Togo. It had reportedly been en route toward the Romanian port of Sulina. Officials have not confirmed the size of the crew or the nature of its freight. When a nearby Bulgarian boat reached the scene, responders found only an overturned vessel alongside empty life rafts and life jackets, prompting an immediate search effort.

A second merchant ship, the Able, was sailing under the flag of Palau and transporting grain approximately five nautical miles away when it was also struck. Bulgarian rescue teams successfully evacuated all 18 mariners aboard, comprising eleven Turkish nationals and seven Indian nationals. Two of the rescued crew suffered injuries caused by an onboard blaze and were transported for medical care.

Radev characterized the strikes as a flagrant breach of maritime regulations, calling any hostile activity inside Bulgarian economic waters entirely unacceptable. While stopping short of attributing responsibility directly to a specific military, Radev warned that the ongoing conflict in Ukraine threatens to widen geographically and escalate broader global security hazards if left unchecked.

The attacks drew swift international condemnation. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen denounced the strikes as unacceptable, highlighting growing hazards facing commercial shipping and innocent sailors operating in the Black Sea.

The developments follow an increase in regional tensions and military activity tied to Russia's war against Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had previously accused Moscow of targeting another civilian ship hauling corn, while an earlier strike near Odesa left one mariner dead and seven wounded on a Marshall Islands-flagged freighter. Russian authorities have not issued a statement regarding the strikes off Bulgaria, though Russia's defence ministry recently pledged to step up broad strikes following Ukrainian warnings concerning attacks on Russian oil infrastructure.