Fires aboard two ships in Romanian territorial waters in suspected drone strikes
Romanian authorities were on October 15 investigating whether the fires aboard two vessels in Romania’s territorial waters were the result of drone strikes.
On the night of October 14, there was a fire aboard the Comoros-flagged fuel tanker Yara J near the Romanian port of Sulina. The crew was evacuated.
In the early morning of October 15, the San Marino-flagged Wine Trade requested assistance after a fire broke out on board. Eight of the 12 crew members are missing.
Romania’s Ministry of Internal Affairs said on its website on October 15 that several assets had been deployed to assist in the emergency situation, including a Black Hawk helicopter with a medical team on board.
Reports in Romanian media said that sailors on another ship had seen that the Wine Trade was hit by a drone.
Romania’s Ministry of National Defence said in a media statement on October 15 that overnight, its radar surveillance system had detected a group of aerial targets near Snake Island. Two Spanish Air Force F-18s were scrambled.
At 01.34am, a drone was detected for approximately one minute in the national airspace, southeast of Sulina, after which it disappeared from the radar. Subsequently, following the detection of other aerial targets approximately 77km east of Snake Island, two Romanian Air Force F-16 aircraft were scrambled, the ministry said.
On October 15, the Romanian head of state’s office said that President Nicușor Dan and Bulgarian Prime Minister Roumen Radev would meet in the afternoon with Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte for discussions on security in the Black Sea. The venue is Brussels, where the European Council is holding a scheduled meeting.
The agenda of the trilateral meeting will also include recent incidents caused by drones, including those that targeted ships in the Black Sea perimeter and which raise signs of concern regarding the deterioration of the security situation in the region, the Romanian President’s office said.
A total of four ships have come under attack in Bulgaria’s exclusive economic zone in the Black Sea, in incidents on October 6 and 13, with two sunk and several lives lost.
(Screenshot from the Facebook page of the Romanian Ministry of Internal Affairs, of the emergency response to the Wine Trader in distress)
