Seven Crew Missing After Drone Attack Leaves Tanker Ablaze Off Romania's Coast

Rescuers battled heavy seas in the Black Sea on Thursday in a search for seven missing sailors, after drone strikes set two chemical tankers ablaze near Romania's coast in the latest attack on commercial shipping along a vital trade route.

The missing crew members were among 12 sailors aboard the San Marino-flagged tanker Wine Trader, which was struck about 13 nautical miles south-east of the Sulina canal — the channel leading from the Danube River into the Black Sea — in the early hours of Thursday. Five crew members were rescued, Romanian officials said. A second vessel, the Comoros-flagged chemical and oil products tanker Yara J, caught fire after being struck 8 to 10 miles south-east of Sulina inside Romanian waters late on Wednesday; its crew managed to extinguish the flames themselves, and all are safe.

A NATO military source said the drones that caused the fires were of Russian origin. Romanian President Nicusor Dan confirmed that the two ships had been hit by drones but declined to attribute responsibility, telling reporters at an EU leaders' summit in Brussels: "Two air drones hit them." He added that "there will be a reaction from the Romanian state" once more information had been gathered.

A rescue hampered by rough seas

Romania's naval authority received an emergency alert from the Wine Trader at around 7am local time on Thursday, reporting a fire on board approximately 24 kilometres south-east of the city of Sulina. The vessel, which had been travelling from Tunisia to Romania, was anchored near the mouth of the canal waiting to transit, in waters just outside Romania's territorial boundary.

A rescue helicopter hoisting survivors from the sea during a search-and-rescue operation Credit: PO2 Emma Burgess, U.S. Navy / Wikimedia Commons, Public domain

The interior ministry said it had dispatched two Black Hawk helicopters to the search-and-rescue mission, along with two ships carrying medical staff. But officials warned that the operation was in jeopardy: "At the moment, the rescue cannot be done safely because of very big waves," the ministry said in a statement, according to Dawn.

The Yara J had been hit hours earlier, late on Wednesday evening. Romania initially said it was probing a possible drone attack on the vessel; the crew fought the fire themselves and brought it under control. All of its crew members were reported safe.

Reuters reported that Romanian officials stopped short of explicitly linking the fires to Russian drones that had strayed into Romanian airspace — but noted the incidents follow a string of drone strikes on at least five other cargo ships near the coasts of Romania and neighbouring Bulgaria over the past 10 days, in which at least 23 sailors were lost.

Ten days of attacks on Black Sea shipping

The strikes off Romania are the latest in a rapidly escalating campaign against commercial vessels in the western Black Sea. Just two days earlier, on Tuesday, two merchant ships were struck by drones off Bulgaria's Black Sea coast, with one of them sinking and 11 crew members still missing. Bulgaria said it suspected Russia was behind what it called "unacceptable" blasts and summoned Moscow's ambassador.

Earlier this month, a grain ship caught fire and sank outside Romania's territorial waters; Ukraine blamed Russian drones for that incident, in which two people were killed and 11 others rescued. Those attacks all took place just outside NATO's territorial waters — a line the latest strikes appear to have crossed, with the Yara J hit inside Romanian waters.

Two other vessels were also targeted overnight, according to NATO: the Marshall Islands-flagged bulk carrier Sea Destiny, inside Romanian waters, and the Tanzanian-flagged tanker Dania J, moored in the Ukrainian Danube port of Izmail. NATO did not mention casualties in those incidents.

Moscow offered its own account: Russia said it had hit two ships loaded with military cargo heading for the Ukrainian port of Odesa, without naming the vessels. Romanian naval authorities said the Wine Trader was not carrying any cargo.

"The situation in the Black Sea is serious," President Dan said. "Commercial ships are being attacked and sunk. Seafarers killed, injured, and missing, very close to the shores of Romania and Bulgaria. Lives, global trade, and critical infrastructure are at stake."

NATO and Europe respond

The attacks have triggered a diplomatic and military response. NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte met President Dan and Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev on Thursday to address the escalating drone attacks. "NATO has strengthened our posture along the eastern flank including with increasing counter-drone capabilities," Rutte said afterwards. "NATO will continue to work closely with our Allies in the Black Sea, adjusting our deterrence and defence posture as needed."

Dan said NATO is due to hold a summit to address the incursions by drones into eastern European airspace that are testing the Western alliance, Al Jazeera reported. According to some reports, the Romanian and Bulgarian leaders are set to meet to consider whether to invoke Article 4 of the NATO treaty, the clause under which members can request formal consultations when their security is threatened.

At the EU summit, Bulgaria's Radev said European leaders would discuss a proposed moratorium on attacks on civilian ships in the Black Sea. Romania's foreign minister, Oana Toiu, told a security conference in Warsaw earlier in the week: "We're looking at the Black Sea as a global food artery. It is currently, unfortunately, the deadliest sea when it comes to the number of casualties of sailors in the last months."

A vital — and vulnerable — trade artery

The two tankers were anchored near the mouth of the Sulina canal, the main navigable channel of the Danube delta, where ships routinely wait because of weather delays and congestion. The Danube route has become a lifeline for Ukrainian exports: Russia's repeated bombing of Ukraine's Black Sea ports has forced Kyiv to rely increasingly on Danube ports and shipping lanes running close to the Romanian and Bulgarian coasts.

Romania shares a 614-kilometre border with Ukraine, much of it along the Danube, and has repeatedly reported Russian drone incursions into its airspace since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion in 2022. The Straits Times noted that the escalating attacks have heightened concerns over grain exports from the region — both Russia and Ukraine are major global grain exporters, and disruptions in the Black Sea threaten to ripple through world food markets.

Ukraine, for its part, has targeted Russian vessels near the mouth of the Don River in the Azov Sea, underscoring how the naval dimension of the war has widened on both sides.

As Ships & Ports summarised, the strikes raise fresh security concerns over a shipping route that is vital not only to Ukraine's war effort but to global trade. With seven sailors still missing, rough seas hampering rescuers, and NATO weighing its response, the Black Sea is becoming one of the most dangerous stretches of water in the world for civilian seafarers.

For more on the wider war and its economic fallout, see Verity's reporting on Ukraine's energy war with Russia and on the G7's emergency oil release. Follow our World section and News section for continuing coverage, visit the homepage for the latest headlines, or read about Verity.