Bulgaria searches for crew after drones hit 2 ships in Black Sea

SOFIA

Bulgarian authorities take an injured crew member to a hospital after two commercial vessels were attacked in the NATO member's Black Sea economic zone on Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2026, Varna, in what was the first such attack on shipping in the area. (Bulgarian News Agency via AP)

Bulgarian authorities launched a major search operation on Oct. 6 for the missing crew of a ship that sank in the Black Sea after drones struck two merchant vessels, in an attack Prime Minister Rumen Radev called “absolutely unacceptable.”

The search was launched about 70 nautical miles east of the coastal town of Byala after the Togolese-flagged vessel sank, authorities said.

A Bulgarian ferry, the Dioskuria, which was in the area, witnessed the explosion and rushed to the scene, where it found overturned life rafts and life jackets but no members of the missing crew, Radev told reporters.

A Bulgarian Navy fast boat later joined the operation and rescued two crew members, one suffering from burns and the other from a head injury.

The remaining 16 crew members were rescued by border guard patrol boats.

The rescued crew comprised 11 Turkish and seven Indian nationals, according to Radev.
The second vessel, registered in Palau, was also hit by a drone and caught fire, but all of its Turkish and Indian crew members were rescued.

Some media reports said the two cargo ships were Turkish-owned, although authorities have yet to confirm the reports.

“Two merchant vessels were attacked by sea and air drones. This has been formally confirmed by the crews, and both ships were hit,” Radev said.

He described the incident as “a flagrant violation of maritime law and, more broadly, of the rules of navigation,” saying an attack within Bulgaria’s exclusive economic zone was “absolutely unacceptable.”

The Bulgarian government said it would convene an emergency meeting on Oct. 6 to discuss the strikes.

The incident came a day after a Turkish-owned grain ship caught fire and sank off the Romanian coast, killing one crew member and leaving another missing. Ukraine said the vessel was targeted in a Russian drone attack.

Shipping in the Black Sea has faced growing risks linked to the Russia-Ukraine war in recent months.

Türkiye’s Chamber of Maritime Commerce (IMEAK) said last month that 226 civilian and commercial vessels had been attacked in the Black Sea since the war began in February 2022, with the vast majority of the incidents occurring this year.