Two commercial tankers were attacked by drones off the coast of Bulgaria on Tuesday, with one reportedly sinking according to local sources. These attacks occurred in the western Black Sea amid escalating military tensions between Russia and Ukraine.
Details of the Attack on the Tankers
The Maltese-flagged tanker Chelsea 3, owned by Ukraine, was attacked by three drones early in the morning. This incident took place 18 nautical miles east of Byala. All 15 crew members, including seven Ukrainians and eight Azerbaijanis, were rescued by the Bulgarian border police and transferred to the port of Varna. Eight of them were taken to the hospital, three of whom suffered burns.
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Fate of the Second Tanker and Officials' Reactions
The second tanker, known as Azov Concord and flying the flag of Saint Kitts and Nevis, sank 17 nautical miles east of Krapets. Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev initially confirmed the sinking of this tanker, but officials from the Ministry of Interior later stated that the status of this tanker had not been definitively established. Five sailors were rescued by passing commercial vessels, and the status of the other crew members remains unclear.
Radev described these attacks as "completely unacceptable" and announced his plan to summon the Russian ambassador and request assistance from NATO and the European Union. He also pointed to a lack of sufficient evidence to identify the attackers, stating that these attacks appeared to benefit Russia.
These incidents occur a week after similar attacks on two other tankers in Bulgaria's exclusive economic zone. These attacks followed the sinking of the tanker Royad Mammadov near Romania, which resulted in two fatalities.
As violence escalates, these events are part of a broader Russian campaign against Ukraine's port infrastructure and commercial shipping in the Black Sea. Earlier this month, Moscow claimed to have attacked four cargo ships in the northwestern Black Sea. Additionally, a separate attack on a Liberian-flagged vessel in the Odessa region port resulted in the death of another sailor.
Wheat loading in the Black Sea has dropped to 1.6 million tons in September, a nearly 78 percent decrease compared to last year, as attacks increasingly damage one of the world's most important grain export regions.
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