Cargo ship ablaze off Constanța: one dead, three missing – Romania blames Russia
A merchant vessel was hit by a drone off the Romanian coast and capsized, according to Bucharest. President Dan holds Russia responsible.
Symbolic image · Photo: Mehlauge / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped and resized)
A cargo ship caught fire and capsized off Romania’s Black Sea coast on Friday morning. According to the Romanian Naval Authority, the Comoros-flagged Khoryv was hit by a drone at around 10 a.m. local time about 13 nautical miles east of Constanța, just outside Romanian territorial waters. The Interior Ministry said the vessel had suffered major damage and was at imminent risk of sinking. Of the 13 crew members – ten Ukrainians and three Azerbaijanis, according to AP – ten were picked up by another merchant ship, nine alive and one dead. Three sailors are missing. Bad weather and poor visibility prevented a helicopter rescue, Euronews reported.
President Nicușor Dan said Romania had determined that the attack originated from Russia. He called it “a new example of the tragic consequences of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine”. Prime Minister Luca Niculescu said the attack, outside Romanian territorial waters, violated international law and freedom of navigation, saying Romania would coordinate with Bulgaria, Turkey and its allies. Defence Minister Ștefan Radu Oprea stressed that the army can only intervene if drones enter Romanian airspace.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President António Costa condemned the attack and expressed solidarity with Romania. Romania and Bulgaria have asked NATO for support in monitoring and countering drones in the Black Sea. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas had told the European Parliament that ships had been attacked six times in ten days, calling it “a dangerous and unacceptable escalation”.