Two people died and 11 crew members were rescued after a cargo ship caught fire and sank in the Black Sea on October 5, Romanian authorities said. Ukraine’s president blamed Russian drones, while Romania’s Interior Ministry did not identify the cause of the fire. The incident occurred outside Romanian territorial waters.
The ministry said the coast guard received an alert at about 11 a.m. local time. The ship was in Romania’s exclusive economic zone, approximately 30 nautical miles south of Sfântul Gheorghe. A coast guard vessel coordinated the search and rescue operation, and a helicopter hoisted injured people aboard for emergency medical care.
Reuters reported that Romania’s Naval Authority identified the vessel as the Royad Mammadov. Tracking service VesselFinder showed it flying the flag of Saint Kitts and Nevis, heading to Ravenna in Italy after calling at Ukraine’s port of Izmail. Those tracking details describe the vessel’s route and registration, rather than establish what caused it to sink.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said two Russian drones struck a Turkish-owned civilian ship carrying corn. He said Azerbaijani and Indian nationals were aboard. His account listed the captain as dead and another person as unaccounted for, while Romanian authorities reported two deaths. The differing accounts of the casualties were not reconciled in the reports.
Russian authorities had no immediate comment on this incident, Reuters reported. The agency said an earlier Russian Defence Ministry bulletin claimed strikes on two cargo vessels. That statement did not, in the report, establish a link to this particular ship. Romania’s announcement confirmed the rescue and deaths without attributing responsibility for the fire.
The sinking occurred on a major commercial shipping route affected by the war since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, AP reported. Zelenskyy said Ukraine had proposed measures to reduce tensions and protect Black Sea navigation. Establishing the cause of the fire remained an unresolved issue in the Romanian account, distinct from Ukraine’s accusation.
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