Two commercial vessels were attacked by drones off Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast overnight, sinking one ship and leaving 11 sailors missing.
The Maltese-flagged Chelsea 3, operated by a Ukrainian company, was struck by three drones approximately 33 kilometers from the Bulgarian coast. The drones hit its deck and hull, but all 15 crew members—seven Ukrainians and eight Azerbaijanis—were evacuated to Varna. Five required medical assistance.
A second vessel, identified by Bulgarian officials as the Guinea-Bissau-flagged HS Dignity, sank near Cape Krapets. Five members of its 16-person crew have now been rescued, while search teams continue looking for the remaining 11.
Bulgaria has not publicly identified who launched the drones. Prime Minister Rumen Radev nevertheless said the consequences benefit Russia and described the attacks as “absolutely unacceptable.” Sofia is summoning the Russian ambassador and has informed NATO and the European Union.
This is the second such incident in one week. On October 6, drones attacked two other commercial ships inside Bulgaria’s exclusive economic zone. One sank with 12 sailors later declared missing, while all 18 crew members aboard the second vessel were evacuated, two of them seriously injured.
The western Black Sea is rapidly becoming another dangerous front in Russia’s war. Commercial crews are disappearing at sea, shipping routes are becoming increasingly hazardous and attacks are now occurring close to the coastline of a NATO member.
Bulgaria may not yet have definitive evidence identifying the attacker, but two sinkings in seven days are no longer an isolated maritime incident. They are a pattern—and the waters off Bulgaria have become a new hot zone.