Rescue teams were searching for seven missing sailors on Thursday after two chemical tankers caught fire in suspected drone attacks near Romania’s Black Sea coast, raising concerns over the safety of commercial shipping in the region.
Romanian President Nicusor Dan confirmed that both vessels had been struck by drones but stopped short of identifying who was responsible.
“Two air drones hit them,” Dan told reporters in Brussels ahead of a European Union leaders’ summit, adding that authorities were still gathering information about the incidents.
“There will be a reaction from the Romanian state,” he said.
The attacks occurred near the entrance to the Sulina Canal, a major shipping route connecting the Danube River to the Black Sea and used extensively by Ukraine for commercial transport.
The most serious incident involved the San Marino-flagged tanker Wine Trader, which was struck approximately 13 nautical miles southeast of Sulina, about one nautical mile beyond Romanian territorial waters.
Romania’s naval authority said five of the vessel’s 12 crew members had been rescued, while seven remained missing.
The Interior Ministry deployed two Black Hawk helicopters and two rescue vessels carrying medical personnel. However, severe sea conditions complicated efforts to locate the missing sailors.
“At the moment, the rescue cannot be done safely because of very big waves,” the ministry said.
A second vessel, the Comoros-flagged chemical and oil tanker Yara J, caught fire late Wednesday while positioned approximately eight to ten miles southeast of Sulina, within Romanian waters.
Authorities confirmed that all crew members aboard the Yara J were safe.
The incidents occurred after Russian drones reportedly entered Romanian airspace, although Romanian officials had not established responsibility for the tanker strikes.
NATO said it was maintaining contact with Romanian authorities and disclosed that two additional commercial vessels had been targeted overnight.
These included the Marshall Islands-flagged bulk carrier Sea Destiny, located inside Romanian waters, and the Tanzanian-flagged tanker Dania J, which was moored at Ukraine’s Danube port of Izmail.
No casualty figures were provided for those two vessels.
The latest incidents follow a series of reported drone attacks on at least five other cargo ships near the Romanian and Bulgarian coasts over the preceding ten days. According to the report, at least 23 sailors were lost in those earlier attacks, which occurred just outside NATO territorial waters.
The growing number of incidents has heightened concerns about maritime security in the Black Sea, particularly around shipping corridors used by Ukraine.
Responsibility for the latest attacks had not been conclusively established at the time of reporting, while rescue operations remained dependent on improving weather and sea conditions.