Bulgarian PM on drone attacks on ships in Bulgaria’s EEZ: ‘Absolutely unacceptable’
The drone attacks that resulted in a commercial vesse sinking and another set on fire in Bulgaria’s exclusive economic zone on October 6 was “absolutely unacceptable attack, a gross display of international law and maritime affairs,” Bulgarian Prime Minister Roumen Radev said at the start of an emergency meeting convened in response to the attacks.
Radev said that at about 3am, about 70 nautical miles east of Byala, there were coordinated attacks on commercial vessels in the area.
This is the first such attack on ships in Bulgaria’s exclusive economic zone.
Both sea and air drones, this has been categorically confirmed by the crews, Radev said.
Radev said that the first ship (identified in media reports as the Togo-flagged Alfa Watan) had sunk. The search for survivors from this ship was ongoing, Radev said.
The Bulgarian RO-RO ship Dioscuria was in this area, which saw the explosion of the first ship, went to the scene of the incident, but what was found was one overturned boat, three overturned rafts, life jackets, but so far there are no people. “No people from the first ship have been found, the crew is missing,” he said.
“The second ship, which is under attack and has a fire on board, the crew managed to evacuate and was rescued by our ship,” Radev said.
“As far as we know, the second ship (the Palau-flagged Able) was loaded with wheat and was heading south, while the first sunken ship was heading north. We don’t know what the cargo was,” he said.
“Reconnaissance is also being carried out for possible spills, environmental pollution. But for us, the most important thing, as a state that is responsible in its exclusive economic zone for the health and life of anyone sailing in this zone, we are obliged to conduct search and rescue operations.”
“As I have already stated, this war has been going on for a long time, if it is not ended in time, it will continue to expand its spatial scope and increase the risk of global conflict,” Radev said.
“We see that the war is getting fiercer, all kinds of rules of international law are being violated, civilian sea vessels are being attacked. What is happening is making navigation in the Black Sea extremely difficult, raising all insurance costs even more and making navigation extremely difficult.”
Of the rescued crew, one has severe burns and another a head injury. They were being transported by fast ship for treament at the Military Medical Academy in Varna.
The remaining 16 people from the crew were being transported on a Border Police boat. Most of the crew were Turkish and the rest Indian citizens.
The emergency meeting convened by Radev was being attended by representatives of the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Environment and Water, the Presidency and the security services.
(Photo: government.bg)
