Maritime Administration: Sea mines unlikely to reach Bulgarian shore
Sea mines laid by Russian forces in Odessa and dislodged by a storm may reach Bulgarian waters in up to 10 days but will be far from the shore, Bulgaria’s Maritime Administration said on March 21.
Bulgaria’s government warned on March 20 that the mines had been dislodged and posed a threat to vessels in the Black Sea.
The government said that it was “taking all necessary measures”.
Bourgas district governor Stoiko Tankov was meeting various state bodies on March 21 to discuss steps to be taken by institutions responsible for maritime areas in the district.
Bulgaria’s two major fisheries associations have been contacted to warn their vessels not to put to sea until there is further information.
The government has asked the public in the districts of Dobrich, Varna and Bourgas to call 112 if they notice suspicious spherical objects in the water or on the shore.
Alexander Iliev, head of the Maritime Administration in Bourgas, said that the currents would not bring the mines to Bulgaria’s shore, but somewhere in the direction of the Bosphorus.
Ukraine has said that statements by Russia’s FSB security service about the mines were misinformation and that there could be a Russian operation to mine the sea route from Odessa to the Bosphorus, to obstruct supplies to Ukraine by sea.
(Archive photo: Clive Leviev-Sawyer)
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