Seven people were missing after a vessel caught fire off Romania’s Black Sea coast early Thursday, Romanian officials said, following a series of suspected drone attacks on ships in the region.
Five crew members were rescued from the San Marino-flagged Wine Trader, which had 12 people on board, the Romanian Naval Authority said. The vessel was not carrying cargo.
Romanian officials did not say if a drone had caused the fire. The ship reported the blaze around 7 a.m., approximately 13 nautical miles southeast of Sulina, a city near Romania’s border with Ukraine. The VesselFinder tracking website identified it as a chemical tanker.
“Whether it was struck by a drone or not, an investigation is currently underway,” Defense Minister Radu Miruta told the Digi24 television channel.
“This is a matter of significant gravity, given that such incidents are occurring in Romanian territorial waters,” he said.
Several vessels and two Black Hawk helicopters were involved in the search and rescue operation, which was hampered by rough seas, the Interior Ministry said.
“At present, it is not possible to rescue the people safely due to the very high waves,” the ministry said.
Eight crew members were initially reported missing before the Naval Authority revised the figure to seven.
The fire came a day after Romania said it was investigating a possible drone attack on another tanker off its Black Sea coast. The crew of the Comoros-flagged Yara J extinguished a fire on board before rescuers arrived.
Suspected Russian drones have hit several ships off Romania and neighboring Bulgaria since last week as the war in Ukraine increasingly threatens commercial shipping in the Black Sea.
Early last week, a Turkish-owned grain ship sank off Romania after catching fire. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky alleged that Russian drones had struck the vessel.
One crew member was confirmed dead. The search for a second person has been called off, the Romanian Naval Authority told AFP on Thursday.
Two merchant vessels were attacked off Bulgaria earlier this week, leaving 11 people missing. An attack on two other ships off Bulgaria last week also left several people missing.
Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev said Thursday that one of the ships would be towed to port so investigators could examine it for drone debris and determine the origin of the strike.
“Then we’ll have solid evidence,” he said in Brussels. “The results of this attack favor Russia.”
Romanian President Nicusor Dan said on X on Wednesday that the drone attacks in the Black Sea were “direct consequences of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.”
He said Romania and Bulgaria would push for “stronger counter-drone measures within the EU and NATO” to protect commercial shipping.
At least 163 civilian and commercial vessels were hit in the Black Sea during the first eight months of this year, according to Turkey’s IMEAK Chamber of Shipping.
© Agence France-Presse
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