7 sailors missing as two ships off Romanian Black Sea coast catch fire amid drone incursion
Romanian authorities opened an investigation into the possibility of a drone strike on one of the tankers, after drones violated the country's airspace overnight.
Seven sailors are missing after two tanker ships caught fire off Romania's Black Sea coast, with drone incursions into the country's airspace, according to Romanian officials. The San Marino-flagged Wine Trader, a chemical tanker, reported a fire and eight people missing near the Romanian city of Sulina. Romanian defense minister Radu Miruta stated that authorities are investigating a reported drone attack on a chemical tanker, the Yara J, on the evening of Oct.
14. The ship, which had eight sailors onboard, was hit by a drone around 08:25 p.m. local time. The leader of the Romanian Seafarers Free Union, Adrian Mihalcioiu, called the incident an intentional attack on a ship in Romanian territorial waters en route to Ukraine. No drone was seen approaching the ship on the defense ministry's radars, but two drones entered Romania's airspace at 10:26 p.m. local time.
Investigations are ongoing into whether the tanker ships were indeed struck by drones. The attacks are considered a significant concern as such incidents in Romanian territorial waters are deemed "of significant gravity."
Written by urgent.news from Kyiv Independent's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
Also reported by 4 other outlets
- 2 ships ablaze off Romanian Black Sea coast, search on for missing sailors globalnews.ca
- Romania says 8 people missing after fire on vessel in Black Sea freemalaysiatoday.com
- Sailors missing as two ships set ablaze in Romanian Black Sea abc.net.au
- Romanian authorities launch rescue after another Black Sea ship fire leaves 8 missing winnipegfreepress.com
