Drones attack ships in Black Sea, eight Azerbaijanis among crew members

Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev said that drones had attacked two ships in the Black Sea, one of which sank. Eight Azerbaijani citizens were among the crew members of one of the vessels.

According to the Bulgarian Telegraph Agency (BTA), cited by Report, he said that the Malta-flagged vessel Chelsea 3 was attacked by three aerial drones 18 nautical miles east of the Bulgarian town of Byala.

"Another attack on merchant vessels in the immediate vicinity of Bulgaria"s territorial waters is absolutely unacceptable," Radev said.

All 15 crew members, including seven Ukrainian and eight Azerbaijani citizens, were rescued. Five of them sustained minor injuries.

According to Radev, the second vessel was attacked 17 nautical miles east of the settlement of Krapets and sank. One crew member was rescued.

The prime minister added that Bulgaria intended to seek international assistance to establish the origin of the drones. However, he stressed that Sofia did not yet have convincing evidence to accuse any party.