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2026-10-08 Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia

Six Syrian sailors missing after cargo ship sinks off Bulgaria

[NorthPress] Six Syrian sailors are missing after the cargo ship Alpha Vatan sank in the Black Sea off Bulgaria following a drone attack, Bulgarian media reported on Wednesday.

The commercial cargo vessel sank late Tuesday after it was targeted by drones in Bulgaria’s exclusive economic zone in the Black Sea, according to Bulgarian media.

The vessel, owned by a Turkish company and sailing under the flag of Togo, was carrying a six-member crew and was heading to the Romanian port of Sulina.

Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev said drones targeted two vessels in the country’s exclusive economic zone late Tuesday, causing a fire on one ship and sinking the other.

Radev said Bulgarian authorities did not yet have precise information about the party behind the drone attacks.

Bulgarian media said they contacted Syrian media outlets in Latakia, which confirmed that six Syrian sailors were aboard the Alpha Vatan.

Related from regnum.ru:
The crew of the tanker attacked in the Black Sea refused hospitalization.
The crew members of the Liberian-flagged oil tanker attacked off the coast of Sochi in the Black Sea refused hospitalization. This was reported on October 7 by the city administration's press service.

City authorities have established a response center to deal with the aftermath of the tanker attack. The open fire on the vessel has been extinguished. Rescue vessels remain on duty, monitoring the waters and coastline. The tanker is drifting along the coastline of Sochi's Lazarevsky District.

"No oil spills were recorded, and air and water quality monitoring results are within regulatory limits," noted Sochi Mayor Andrei Proshunin.

On the evening of October 6, a tanker caught fire in the Black Sea off the coast of Sochi. The vessel was attacked by unmanned boats of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. The tanker had a crew of 23, all Indian citizens. They were rescued.

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Posted by badanov 2026-10-08 00:00|| E-Mail|| Front Page|| ||Comments [24 views ] Top

1 Bulgaria halts rescue operation for crew of sunken ship

SOFIA, Oct 7 (Reuters) - Bulgaria has halted its search for the missing crew of a ship that sank after being hit by a drone about 70 nautical miles (130 km) off its coast, Vice-Admiral Rumen Nikolov of the Maritime Administration Executive Agency said ‌on Wednesday.

Early on Tuesday, two ships were hit in a drone attack in Bulgaria's Black Sea exclusive economic zone. One sank and the other was damaged. The crew of the damaged ship were rescued, but the crew of the sunken one remain missing.

Nikolov said 12 crew members were believed to have been on board the ship which sank, all of them from Syria. The rescue operation will not resume, he added.

"There are no traces of the sailors from the first ship, ⁠and there will be none. There is also no information about drone remains," he told reporters.

"A boat, three life rafts and parts of the ship's equipment have been found."

It was not immediately clear who carried out the attack involving air and sea drones in waters off the coastal town of Byala in eastern Bulgaria, but there are growing concerns about hybrid attacks by Russia as it wages war in Ukraine.

Posted by Skidmark 2026-10-08 00:16|| 2026-10-08 00:16|| Front Page || Comments Top

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