Bulgarian PM condemns drone attacks on ships in Black Sea economic zone

Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev condemned drone attacks on two ships in Bulgaria’s Black Sea exclusive economic zone early on Tuesday, calling them “absolutely unacceptable” and a flagrant violation of international law.

One of the vessels, sailing under the flag of Togo, sank, while the other was hit and caught fire in the attacks, which took place at around 3 a.m., Radev said. The crew of the second ship was rescued by the Bulgarian roll-on/roll-off vessel Dioscuria, which was in the area.

• Drones hit two ships 80 nautical miles off the Bulgarian coast
  

“The crew of the Dioscuria saw the explosion on the first ship and headed towards the scene. They found an overturned boat and life jackets, but no members of the sunken ship’s crew,” Radev said. 

The 18 rescued sailors, 11 Turkish and seven Indian nationals, were brought ashore by Border Police boats. Two, including the captain, were seriously injured and admitted to a military hospital in Varna.

One of the ships was carrying wheat and heading south, while the other was sailing north with an unknown cargo, Radev said, without specifying which vessel had sunk.

“I said long ago that unless this war is brought to an end, things will get very bad. All kinds of international laws are being violated, and civilian vessels are being attacked,” the prime minister said.

Radev also said authorities were monitoring a ship damaged near Odesa in August that remained adrift.

“We are monitoring whether it might enter our territorial waters, and if it heads towards our coast, we will act immediately. We will not allow drifting ships to pose a threat to the Bulgarian coast,” he said.

Meanwhile, the search for the crew of the sunken vessel continues. Defence Minister Dimitar Stoyanov said a Su-25 aircraft would carry out an aerial search for survivors.

Editor: Ivo Ivanov