Drone strike sinks cargo ship off Bulgaria, 11 sailors missing; Sofia summons Russian ambassador

Two cargo ships were struck by drones overnight into Tuesday, 13 October, off Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast, and one of them sank, Bulgarian officials said, Reuters reported. It was the second such deadly incident in a week.

What happened

• The Guinea-Bissau-flagged HS Dignity sank off the village of Krapets. Five crew were rescued and 11 remain missing; President Iliana Iotova said a search was under way.
• The Maltese-flagged, Ukrainian-owned Chelsea 3 was hit by three drones. All 15 crew — seven Ukrainians and eight Azerbaijanis — were rescued, none seriously injured.
• A week earlier, nine Syrian sailors and one Egyptian were lost when another ship sank after a drone strike in Bulgaria’s exclusive economic zone.

Reactions

Prime Minister Rumen Radev called the attack “absolutely unacceptable” and, while stopping short of directly blaming Moscow, said the outcome “benefits the Russian Federation.” Bulgaria summoned Russia’s ambassador, Eleonora Mitrofanova, who said she had no information from Russia’s defence ministry about attacks on commercial ships and did not rule out a provocation by a third party, according to the Bulgarian government.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the Black Sea had become “another front of escalation” of Russia’s war in Ukraine. Ukraine’s foreign minister Andrii Sybiha accused Moscow of disregarding civilian lives. Radev asked von der Leyen and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte for help strengthening maritime and airspace surveillance; Rutte said NATO would adjust its eastern-flank presence “as needed.” There was no immediate comment from the Kremlin.