A drone strike sank a cargo ship in the Black Sea off Romania on Friday, killing one sailor and leaving three others missing, Romanian authorities said.
The Comoros-flagged Khoryv sent a distress signal about 13 nautical miles east of the port of Constanta, just outside Romanian territorial waters. It caught fire, capsized and sank. Nine of the 13 crew members, 10 Ukrainians and three Azerbaijanis, were rescued, and the search for the missing continued in rough seas. Poor weather and low visibility ruled out a helicopter rescue.
Romanian President Nicusor Dan blamed Russia, calling the attack part of its escalation of the war in Ukraine and accusing Moscow of stepping up attacks on NATO's eastern flank. The ship had left Turkey on October 21 and was heading for Sulina, according to MarineTraffic.
At least seven other cargo ships have been hit off the coasts of Romania and Bulgaria in the past two weeks. Many of the vessels were anchored near or heading for the Sulina Canal, which links the Danube to the Black Sea and has become Ukraine's main export route.
Leave a reaction