Drones hit two commercial ships off Bulgaria; one sinks

Drones struck two commercial ships in the Black Sea off the Bulgarian coast, and one of the vessels sank. A search is under way for the crew of the sunken ship.

The attacks happened at about 03:00 local time, roughly 130 kilometres east of the town of Biala in Bulgaria's exclusive economic zone, Rumen Radev said. "The crew of the Bulgarian ferry 'Dioskuriya', which was in the area, saw an explosion on the first ship and sailed to the scene. They found an overturned boat and life jackets, but no one from the crew," he said.

Authorities have not provided a passenger count for the vessel that went down.

The other ship caught fire and all 18 members of its crew were rescued by 'Dioskuriya', Radev added: 11 were Turkish nationals and seven were Indian. "Two of them are injured. A warship picked them up and took them for treatment in Varna," Defence Minister Dimitar Stoyanov said.

Distress signals and identification

Both vessels sent distress calls during the night, and one disappeared from border police radar at about 09:00 local time. The sunken vessel has been named "Alfa Vatan"; it sailed under the flag of Togo and was reportedly heading to Romania. The second ship has been identified as "Abl", flying the flag of Palau. The cargo of the sunken ship has not yet been disclosed.

Radev called the attack "absolutely unacceptable" but did not say who had launched the drones. Search-and-rescue operations involving maritime and aerial assets remain ongoing.

Photo: Veselfajnder)