Two Turkish-owned cargo ships were struck by drones in the early hours of Tuesday 6 October, about 80 miles off Bulgaria's coast, according to the government, inside its exclusive economic zone (EEZ). The Bulgarian Council of Ministers confirmed the attacks. The Togo-flagged Alfa Watan sank, and its crew is missing. The Bulgarian ferry Dioscuria found an overturned lifeboat and life jackets but no crew, and search and rescue operations continue.
The Palau-flagged Able caught fire, and all 18 crew abandoned ship. The Bulgarian-flagged ferry Dioscuria rescued them. Two sailors were injured, one with burns and one with a head injury, and were taken to hospital in Varna. Bulgarian authorities have not determined the origin of the drones, and no party has been officially blamed. Crisis.Zone has seen no claim of responsibility.
What is confirmed and what is claimed
The government says the Alfa Watan was struck at about 03:00 local time; Bulgarian media report it disappeared from Border Police radar around 09:00. The ship-tracking service VesselFinder logged its last position at about 02:00 CET, roughly 70 nautical miles offshore. Distress signals were sent at about 04:00 local time. The Saint Kitts and Nevis-flagged Mercy also joined the rescue.
Prime Minister Rumen Radev convened an emergency meeting at 11:15 local time with four ministries, the Presidency and the security services. Afterwards he called the attacks "a blatant violation of international law and maritime law" and "unacceptable", adding: "We are seeing the war intensify, with all the rules of international law now being violated and civilian vessels being attacked at sea." He did not name a suspected source. Reuters reported that both air and sea drones were used. President Iliana Iotova cancelled her visit to Veliko Tarnovo and her campaign meetings.
Regional media, citing shipping records, report that both vessels regularly called at Ukrainian Danube ports. This has not been independently verified.
On 5 October the Royad Mammadov was struck by two drones in Romania's EEZ and sank. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy blamed Russia. Romanian authorities have not formally attributed the attack. The reported toll as of 5 October was two dead, 11 rescued and at least one missing, and these figures may change. Russia's Defense Ministry said on Monday that it struck "Ukrainian port infrastructure and sea vessels involved in delivering military cargo to Ukraine". Crisis.Zone has seen no Russian claim covering either incident in NATO waters. In March, Crisis.Zone reported a drone strike on the Turkish-operated tanker Altura near the Bosphorus.
Observers are reading: the specific indicators in Sofia, Bucharest and Ankara that will show whether these strikes are handled as national or alliance matters.
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Black Sea shipping risk after two days of strikes
In late September the Joint War Committee, the London insurance body that lists war-risk areas, added Bulgaria's Black Sea EEZ to its listed areas. The maritime risk firm Ambrey cited at least 45 attacks over 12 months on commercial vessels in previously unaffected parts of the Black Sea. Search operations and any attribution by Sofia or Bucharest are the next verifiable developments.
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