Seven crew members missing after chemical tanker catches fire off Romanian coast

A San Marino-flagged chemical tanker caught fire close to Romanian territorial waters on Thursday morning, leaving seven crew members missing despite the rescue of five others, according to Romanian authorities. The vessel sent a distress call approximately thirteen nautical miles from the port of Sulina, near the Ukrainian border, shortly after Romania's defence ministry declared an air alert around Snake Island and reported a drone sighted near Sulina overnight before it disappeared from radar. A second tanker had also caught fire in the same area the previous evening, though its crew was reported safe.

Romanian authorities have not formally attributed a cause to either fire, but the incidents fit a pattern of at least five suspected drone strikes on commercial vessels in the Black Sea over the past two weeks. On 6 October, drones struck two ships in Bulgaria's economic zone, sinking one and leaving ten crew members missing. Two more vessels were hit near Bulgaria earlier this week, with eleven more crew unaccounted for.

The escalating attacks threaten a maritime corridor that carries the vast majority of Ukraine's grain exports, raising alarm among NATO members bordering the Black Sea. Romanian President Nicusor Dan was due to meet Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on the sidelines of the European Council summit in Brussels to discuss the deteriorating security situation.