Romanian Authorities Search for Seven Missing After Black Sea Ship Fire

Romanian authorities launched search and rescue operations off the Black Sea coast on Thursday after a fire broke out on the San Marino-flagged chemical tanker Wine Trader, leaving seven people missing.

Five of the 12 crew members were rescued and hospitalized after the fire, which occurred 13 nautical miles (15 miles) southeast of the port town of Sulina. A second chemical tanker, the Comoros-flagged Yara J, also caught fire on Wednesday evening in Romanian territorial waters near Sulina; its crew was reported safe. Romanian President Nicusor Dan stated that two chemical tankers were hit by air drones in the past 24 hours in or near Romania’s territorial waters.

Dan declined to explicitly state whether Russia was behind the attacks, noting it was too early to confirm. Romania’s Ministry of National Defense reported monitoring a group of air targets overnight near Ukraine’s Snake Island and a drone briefly entered Romanian airspace at 1:34 a.m. southeast of Sulina before disappearing from radar. NATO allies will hold a crisis meeting to discuss responses to the series of drone strikes on cargo shipping in the Black Sea. NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte expressed solidarity and stated NATO strengthened its posture along the eastern flank, including counter-drone capabilities.

These incidents follow drone strikes on at least five other cargo ships off the coasts of Romania and Bulgaria in the past 10 days, resulting in at least 23 sailors lost. On Tuesday, drone strikes off Bulgaria prompted rescue operations for 11 missing crew members from the HS Dignity, a Guinea-Bissau-flagged cargo ship. Another ship, the Ukrainian-operated coastal freighter Chelsea 3 (Maltese flag), was hit by three aerial drones, but all 15 crew members were evacuated, with five receiving minor injuries.

Defense Minister Radu Miruta said an investigation into the fires is underway, and Romanian officials have not explicitly linked the fires to Russian drones. Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev said the EU is to discuss a moratorium to stop attacks on civilian ships in the Black Sea.