Eight crew members missing after fire on tanker off Romanian coast
Search and rescue operations are underway in the Black Sea following a suspected drone attack on the tanker Wine Trader.
Romanian navy officials say eight of the 12 crew are missing after an oil tanker caught fire off the coast of Romania and there were reports of an explosion on board.
The San Marino-flagged wine merchant was 13 nautical miles (24 km) east of the mouth of the Danube in Solina when it reported the explosions and fire on Thursday morning.
The western coast of the Black Sea has recently witnessed a flood of drone attacks, and reports from nearby ships indicated that two drones had hit an oil tanker. Russian drones were detected one night not far from the scene - near the Ukrainian island of Serpent.
Russia announced that two cargo ships with military cargo heading towards the Ukrainian port of Odessa were hit while crossing the sea. He did not name the ships.
On Tuesday, two commercial ships were hit by drones off the southern coast of Romania's neighbor Bulgaria, sinking one and leaving 11 crew members missing.
Bulgaria summoned the country's envoy and said that Russia was behind the attack.
Romanian authorities announced that the search and rescue operation for the eight missing members of the wine merchant is continuing. Two Blackhawk helicopters and two rescue boats have been deployed.
The Romanian Interior Ministry has released a video showing one of the helicopters hovering above the float.
The priority now is to reach the four crew members who have been confirmed alive, while ensuring the safety of rescue teams with extremely high waves reported in the area.
The tanker, which was en route from Tunisia to Romania, reported several explosions around 07:00 local time (05:00 GMT).
The presidents of Romania and Bulgaria are scheduled to discuss today whether Article 4 of the NATO treaty should be invoked.
It allows each member of the military alliance to seek advice from its allies if it believes its territorial integrity or security is at risk.
Ukraine has directly blamed Russia for previous attacks on civilian vessels on the western side of the Black Sea - a key route for Ukrainian exports and imports.
On Tuesday, Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, spoke of the Black Sea becoming "another front for the escalation of Russia's war in Ukraine." This is unacceptable.
As part of its war against Ukraine, the Russian military has recently intensified its attacks on ships in the region.
Last week, two other ships were hit off the coast of Bulgaria, and on the same day, Ukraine collided with an oil tanker in the Russian port of Sochi in the Black Sea.
Moscow says it is targeting ships delivering weapons and dual-use cargo to Ukrainian ports.
Kiev and its European allies say commercial ships carrying grain and other civilian cargo are being attacked.
Russia and Ukraine are both major grain exporters, and Türkiye has called on both countries to stop attacks in the Black Sea.
Moscow has repeatedly rejected the requests of the United States and Europe for a maritime ceasefire in the Black Sea and blames Ukraine for this attack. Russian commercial ships in this area.
Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and Moscow currently controls about 20 percent of Ukraine's territory.