Drones Sink Cargo Ship off Bulgaria, 11 Crew Still Missing

Drones struck two cargo ships in the Black Sea off Bulgaria’s coast overnight on Monday into Tuesday. One vessel sank and 11 crew members remain missing. The second ship sustained damage but all 15 of its crew were rescued. Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev called the attacks absolutely unacceptable and said the outcome benefits the Russian Federation. He ordered the Russian ambassador summoned.

The sunken ship is the Guinea-Bissau-flagged HS Dignity. It went down about 17 nautical miles east of the village of Krapets near the Romanian border. Five crew members have been rescued. The remaining 11 are still missing and search operations continue. The vessel had been sailing from Algeria toward the Romanian port of Braila with a crew that included Syrian and Egyptian nationals according to Bulgarian interior ministry reports.

The second ship, the Maltese-flagged Chelsea-3, is Ukrainian-owned and registered in Odesa. It was hit by three aerial drones roughly 16 to 18 nautical miles east of the town of Byala. All 15 crew members, seven Ukrainians and eight Azerbaijanis, were rescued. Five received treatment for minor injuries. The crew reported impacts to the deck and hull. Bulgarian border police and nearby merchant vessels assisted in the rescue.

This is the second set of attacks on commercial shipping in Bulgaria’s exclusive economic zone within a week. On 6 October two other vessels were struck by aerial and seaborne drones; one Togo-flagged ship sank and a Bulgarian ferry evacuated 18 crew from another vessel. Defence Minister Dimitar Stoyanov said it would be illogical for Ukrainians to strike their own ships and that under the circumstances the drones are assumed to be Russian. He spoke with his Romanian and Turkish counterparts about Black Sea security.

Radev said Bulgaria is seeking assistance from NATO and the European Union. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen condemned the attacks and said the Black Sea has become another front of escalation in Russia’s war in Ukraine. She wrote that the strikes put crew lives in grave danger and threaten regional security. No group has claimed responsibility. Bulgarian officials have not released radar or intercept data that would identify the launch point.

The incidents have drawn commercial traffic further west into the exclusive economic zones of Romania and Bulgaria. Ship tracking data showed the Chelsea-3 had called at the Romanian port of Tulcea on 3 October before heading toward the Bulgarian coast. The HS Dignity left Algeria on 5 October. Bulgarian authorities have not said whether naval escorts or additional air patrols will be introduced for vessels transiting the area. The Russian embassy has not commented on the summons.