Sofia, Oct 15 (IANS) A vessel sailing under the flag of San Marino caught fire in the Black Sea near Romania on Thursday morning, with eight of the 12 crew members missing, Romanian media reported.
The accident occurred some 13 nautical miles southeast of Sulina, the Romanian Naval Authority announced. Twelve people were on board the vessel. Four were safe, while eight others were still missing.
A search-and-rescue operation was underway.
This is the latest incident involving ships in the Black Sea, which has recently seen drone attacks. Comoros-flagged chemical and oil tanker Yara J, anchored in Romania’s territorial waters, was reportedly struck by a drone and caught fire on Wednesday, Xinhua News Agency reported.
Earlier, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the attacks on civilian shipping, the most recent of which were in the Black Sea on Tuesday, his Spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.
“It’s very worrisome because these attacks on ships carrying grain, food, and other products destined for the global market have multiplied and have expanded recently”, he told reporters at his briefing.
“Also, it has a terrible knock-on effect on the price of commodities worldwide”, he said.
According to Bulgarian officials, two cargo ships were attacked by drones off its coast and one of them sank.
Eleven sailors were missing, they said, but did not give their nationalities.
Dujarric said, “We all owe a debt of gratitude for all of these seafarers who continue to operate in extremely dangerous circumstances, just so that all the goods that we rely on for our daily lives keep moving”.
He noted the toll on seafarers also in the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea, which are fallouts of the Iran conflict.
According to Bulgarian officials, the 11 missing seafarers were from the Guinea-Bissau-flagged cargo ship HS Dignity that sank off its coast on Tuesday, and five were rescued.
The Maltese-flagged Chelsea 3 was also hit by drones and 15 members of its crew from Ukraine and Ukraine were rescued, they said.
–IANS
ksk/as