Drones hit two ships 80 nautical miles off the Bulgarian coast

A large-scale rescue operation is underway east of Cape St. Athanasius and the town of Byala in the Black Sea, 80 miles off the Bulgarian coast. Two vessels sent distress signals at 4 a.m. At around 9 a.m. on October 6, one of the vessels disappeared from the radar of the Border Police, BNR correspondent in Varna Daniela Stoynova reported.

The crew of one of the vessels remains missing, while the sailors from the second vessel have been rescued, said Rumen Nikolov, director of the Maritime Rescue Coordination Center in Varna. Both vessels have a gross tonnage of 25,000 tons. One, ABLE, is sailing under the flag of Palau, while the other, ALFA WATAN, is sailing under the flag of Togo. A rescue operation is continuing in the area to search for those missing at sea.

Prime Minister Rumen Radev has convened a meeting with representatives of state institutions following a drone strike on two ships in Bulgaria’s economic zone in the Black Sea, the government information service said. Prime Minister Rumen Radev will make a statement to the media at the start of the meeting at 11:15 a.m.

Edited by Ivo Ivanov

Translated by Kostadin Atanasov