Bulgaria Ends Search For Missing Seafarers Of Sunken Vessel In Its Exclusive Economic Zone

Bulgaria has ended the search and rescue operation to find missing crew members of a cargo vessel that sank 70 nm off its coast after being attacked by a drone.

Although two ships were reportedly hit in the Black Sea, one suffered fire damage; however, the other sank. 18 Turkish and Indian seafarers were saved from the vessel, which was engulfed in flames. It remains unclear how many crew were on board the sunken ship; however, some sources suggest there were at least 10.

Rumen Nikolov, who leads Bulgaria’s Maritime Search and Rescue Coordination Centre, told the media that no survivors were found in the area, after which the search had to be called off on Tuesday.

He added that the drone strike happened in the exclusive economic zone and not the territorial waters of Bulgaria.

The teams found an overturned boat, debris, 3 life rafts, and other equipment on the surface of the sea, near the site of the attack. The sunken ship had sent a distress message at 2:54 a.m. at night, and both the targeted ships are managed by companies based in Turkiye.

The fresh strikes came a day after another vessel sank off Romania with two crew members, with Kyiv blaming Moscow for the drone attack. However, in this case, authorities cannot ascertain whether it was Russia or Ukraine that launched the strike off Byala, a town in the eastern part of Bulgaria.

The Prime Minister of Bulgaria, Rumen Radev, expressed concerns regarding the escalation in the Black Sea, stating that though Bulgaria does not share a border with Ukraine or Russia, it is a member of NATO, which conducts trade via the Black Sea.

However, speaking after the attack, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said that a joint probe with Bulgarian forces revealed that Moscow had carried out the attack.

Given the tense situation in the Black Sea, the Bulgarian Prime Minister announced that his government would procure 5 more surface-to-air missile systems.