After drone attack on ship near Bulgaria, 11 sailors went missing; five were rescued

A ship sank in the Black Sea after a drone attack—11 crew members are missing

A merchant ship carrying 16 people sank in the Black Sea near the Bulgarian coast following a drone attack. Five crew members were rescued; 11 others are still missing.

This was reported by Censor.NET, citing the Bulgarian television channel NOVA, which quoted Ruslan Tomov, governor of the Varna region.

According to the official, the vessel sank approximately 17 nautical miles off the coast near the settlement of Krapets.

Four crew members were picked up by one of the vessels that were in the area of the incident. Another sailor was rescued by a different vessel.

At this time, the fate of the remaining 11 people is unknown. Tomov said he is in contact with the rescue operation coordinators.

What is known about the attacks on ships

On the night of October 12–13, drones attacked two merchant ships off the Bulgarian coast.
In addition to the sunken vessel, three drones struck the Maltese-flagged cargo ship CHELSEA 3, which is registered in Odesa and, according to Bulgarian media reports, belongs to Ukraine.
All 15 crew members of the CHELSEA 3, including seven Ukrainians, were evacuated to the port of Varna. Five sailors required medical attention.
Following the attacks, Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev convened an emergency meeting of the Security Council and announced his intention to demand an explanation from Russian Ambassador Eleonora Mitrofanova.
At the same time, Bulgarian authorities emphasized that they currently have no conclusive evidence regarding the origin of the drones.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha stated that citizens of Ukraine and Azerbaijan were injured as a result of the attacks on merchant ships near Bulgarian territorial waters.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen condemned the attacks on civilian vessels in the Black Sea.