Seven crew members were missing after two chemical tankers caught fire overnight in Romanian waters in the Black Sea, as Russian drones crossed into Romanian airspace, officials said.
Romanian authorities did not directly say the fires were caused by the drones. Still, the incidents came after strikes damaged at least five other cargo vessels near the shores of Romania and neighbouring NATO member Bulgaria over the previous 10 days.
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Those attacks, which occurred just beyond NATO territorial waters, left at least 23 sailors missing or dead. The circumstances surrounding the latest fires remained under investigation.
Romania’s naval authority said it received an emergency alert from the San Marino-flagged tanker Wine Trader. Seven of the vessel’s 12 crew members were missing, while four had been confirmed safe.
The Comoros-flagged chemical and oil tanker Yara Jalso caught fire earlier. Romanian officials initially said they could not determine whether the vessel had come under attack, but reported that all of its crew members were safe.
Both Wine Trader and Yara J caught fire near the mouth of the Danube River’s Sulina Canal
The two vessels were near the mouth of the Danube River’s Sulina Canal, which leads into the Black Sea. Ships frequently anchor there while waiting to transit, with delays caused by bad weather and congestion.
Romania shares a 614km border with Ukraine, much of it along the Danube, and has reported repeated incursions by Russian drones into its airspace during the past four years.
Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev said the European Union would consider a moratorium aimed at halting attacks on civilian vessels in the Black Sea.
Speaking in Brussels, he said; “It is absolutely a fragrant violation of international law and the law of the sea. So we are going to implement any measures to calm down the situation and today we are going to discuss the proposed moratorium to stop attacking on civilian ships within the Black Sea.”
He added; “We have our assumptions. We have certain assumptions, and I expressed our assumptions in front of the Russian ambassador. I summoned the Russian ambassador in Bulgaria because we don’t believe that Ukraine will attack its own ships and crews. There is no logic here. So the results of this attack favour Russia.
“However, we don’t have any solid evidence that the drones are Russian. We have tried to do our best to investigate one of the survived ships. We sent there special crews.They searched the ship, but they found nothing.”
Mr Radev said the damaged ship Chelsea 3 was being taken to a Bulgarian harbour. Once it arrived, he said, authorities would “launch a full terror investigation trying to find any drone debris. Then we’ll have solid, solid evidence to blame any of the countries.”
The recent escalation in attacks on Black Sea shipping linked to the Russia-Ukraine war has raised fears of wider disruption to global food supplies. Both countries rank among the world’s leading grain exporters.
Russia has continued bombing Ukraine’s Black Sea ports, pushing Kyiv to depend more heavily on Danube ports and shipping lanes running close to the Bulgarian and Romanian coasts. Ukraine, meanwhile, has attacked Russian vessels near the mouth of the Don River in the Sea of Azov.
