Seven Crew Members Missing After Tanker Fire Off Romania in Black Sea
A San Marino-flagged chemical tanker caught fire near Romanian waters in the Black Sea on Thursday morning, leaving seven crew members missing. The incident followed the sighting of a drone in the area. This is the latest in a series of suspected drone attacks on commercial vessels in the Black Sea over recent weeks.
Switch levels to reread the same story more simply, or in more depth.
Seven crew members went missing after a San Marino-flagged chemical tanker caught fire close to Romanian territorial waters in the Black Sea on Thursday morning, according to Romanian authorities cited by Politico. The vessel sent a distress call at around 7 a.m. local time from a position roughly 13 nautical miles from the port of Sulina, near the Ukrainian border. Five crew members were rescued.
The fire occurred hours after Romania's defence ministry announced an air alert near Snake Island, a Ukrainian territory approximately 40 kilometres from the incident site. A drone had been spotted near Sulina overnight before disappearing from radar. Another tanker had caught fire close to Sulina the previous evening, although its crew were confirmed safe.
This is the latest in a series of suspected drone strikes affecting the Black Sea, a critical shipping route. At least five commercial vessels have been hit over the past two weeks, disrupting the transport of approximately 95% of Ukraine's grain exports. Earlier attacks include an October 6 strike on two ships in Bulgaria's Black Sea economic zone, one of which sank with ten crew members going missing, and a further strike on two ships near Bulgaria days later that left eleven crew members missing. Romanian President Nicusor Dan was scheduled to meet Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in Brussels to discuss the growing threat to Black Sea shipping.
Summary produced automatically from the cited sources, then adapted to three reading levels.