Drones Sink Ship off Bulgaria, Leaving Eleven Sailors Missing
Two cargo vessels were hit overnight in the Black Sea near Bulgaria’s coast. One sank; five crew members from that ship were rescued while eleven remain missing. Bulgaria summoned the Russian ambassador.
Sofia2 min read
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Drones struck two merchant ships in the Black Sea off Bulgaria’s coast overnight on 12-13 October, sinking one vessel and prompting an ongoing search for eleven missing sailors. Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev said the outcome of the attacks benefited the Russian Federation and that Sofia would summon the Russian ambassador.
The sunken ship was the Guinea-Bissau-flagged HS Dignity. It went down approximately 17 nautical miles east of the village of Krapets. Five crew members were rescued; eleven others were still missing as of Tuesday morning. A second vessel, the Maltese-flagged but Ukrainian-owned Chelsea 3, was hit by three drones about 18 nautical miles east of Byala. All fifteen crew members on the Chelsea 3, seven Ukrainians and eight Azerbaijanis, were evacuated to Varna. Five sustained minor injuries; none were seriously hurt. The Chelsea 3 was travelling from Giresun in Turkey toward Giurgiulești in Moldova.
The strikes occurred inside or immediately adjacent to Bulgaria’s exclusive economic zone and close to its territorial waters. Radev called the attacks “absolutely unacceptable” and said he had scheduled a call with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. He stated that Bulgaria lacked solid and unambiguous evidence to attribute the drones to a specific party, yet the logic of the outcome pointed toward benefit for Russia. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen condemned the strikes, saying the Black Sea had become another front in the escalation of the war and that the attacks put civilian lives in grave danger.
The incidents followed a similar pair of drone strikes exactly one week earlier in the same general area. On that occasion one Togo-flagged ship sank and its crew was lost; the crew of a second vessel was rescued by a Bulgarian ferry. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said the latest attacks demonstrated Moscow’s disregard for civilian lives and maritime security in the Black Sea.
Russia and Ukraine have exchanged strikes on ports, grain facilities and commercial shipping since the full-scale invasion began. The Black Sea route remains critical for Ukrainian grain exports and for regional trade. Attacks on neutral-flagged or third-country vessels near NATO territory raise the risk of direct involvement by alliance members and complicate insurance and routing decisions for shipowners.
Bulgarian authorities have requested additional NATO surveillance support in the area. The precise type of drones used, their launch points and their operators have not been publicly identified. The Chelsea 3 reported strikes to its deck and hull; the ship remained afloat with a list. Rescue operations for the sunken vessel continued on Tuesday, with the five survivors expected to provide further details on the sequence of the attack.
For Bulgaria the attacks constitute a direct security incident inside its maritime zone. For the shipping industry they add another data point to the growing list of commercial vessels damaged or sunk in the Black Sea in 2026. For the wider war the pattern of strikes on ships near a NATO coastline tests the boundary between the existing conflict and the risk of broader escalation. The verified facts are the two vessels hit, the one sunk, the five rescued and eleven missing from the sunken ship, the fifteen rescued from the damaged ship, and the Bulgarian decision to summon the Russian ambassador while seeking NATO assistance.
