Drone strikes on vessels in Bulgaria’s EEZ: Crew of one ship rescued, some from second ship still missing

All 15 sailors from cargo vessel Chelsea 3, one of two ships hit by drones in Bulgaria’s Black Sea exclusive economic zone in the early hours of October 13, have been rescued.

Six of them were injured, with five suffering minor injuries and one suffering minor burns, Varna district governor Mario Smrkov told bTV.

The incident was reported at around 2am. The crew was evacuated by a Border Police boat, and the sailors arrived at the Varna Marine Station at about 7.30am

There were seven Ukrainian and eight Azerbaijani citizens on board the Chelsea. The ship was sailing from Türkiye. It had previously transported grain from Ukraine to Türkiye, where it unloaded, and then returned on its route.

Smrkov said that the vessel remained afloat, but he did not undertake an assessment of the damage. At the moment, there is no information about a fuel leak or pollution of the sea.

Five sailors from the Turkish-owned, St Vincent & Grenadines-flagged Azov Concorde, which was hit 17 nautical miles from Krapets on Bulgaria’s north Black Sea coast and sank, have been rescued. The number of crew members still missing is unclear.

Border Police head Anton Zlatanov told reporters that passing merchant ships were participating in the search and rescue.

Zlatanov emphasized that the operation is being carried out in strong waves, which creates a serious risk for the rescue teams. Despite the dangerous conditions, the priority remains saving human lives, he said.

On October 13, Bulgarian Prime Minister Roumen Radev called an emergency meeting of the Cabinet security council, after which he held talks with Russian ambassador Eleonora Mitrofanova and Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte.

Radev emphasised that Bulgaria does not have definitive evidence of the origin of the drones used in the attacks, “but there is no logic for Ukraine to destroy its own ships, and the results of these strikes are in favour of Russia”. Radev and members of his government have been reluctant to pin the blame for the attacks on Russia.

President Ilana Yotova said that Bulgaria strongly condemned the attacks on merchant ships in the Black Sea. Her statement, on the presidency website, made no mention of Russia.

Opposition groups in Parliament have called for the Russian ambassador to be handed a protest note and for a hearing of the Prime Minister and security and intelligence chiefs on the attacks and the security situation in the Black Sea.

Bulgaria’s Defence Minister Dimitar Stoyanov spoke by phone on October 13 with Romania’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defence Radu-Dinel Miruță and with Türkiye’s Minister of National Defence Yaşar Güler, the Defence Ministry said.

The main topic of both conversations was the security environment in the Black Sea region in light of the incidents overnight, in which two merchant ships were hit, the ministry said.