A Turkish-owned cargo vessel transporting grain from Ukraine to Italy sank in the Black Sea after coming under a drone strike. The fatal incident left two crew members dead, three injured, 11 rescued, and one sailor missing, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky blamed Moscow, stating that Russia “always chooses terror.”
Kabul 24: According to Romanian authorities, the attack targeted the vessel on Monday within Romania’s Exclusive Economic Zone, approximately 9 nautical miles from the “Pescăruș” offshore platform. The strike sparked a severe fire that caused the ship to founder.
A maritime tracking system showed the vessel’s last recorded position roughly three hours prior to the strike, shortly after departing the port of Izmail in Ukraine’s Odesa region bound for Ravenna, Italy. The ship, named *Ruyad Mammadov*, was owned by the Turkish firm MG Shipping 5 and sailed under the flag of Saint Kitts and Nevis.
In response to the emergency, Romanian helicopters and maritime vessels launched an extensive search and rescue operation, successfully pulling 11 crew members from the water. Three injured sailors, aged between 22 and 50, were airlifted to a hospital in the coastal city of Constanța, where medical officials confirmed their conditions as stable. Search efforts remain underway approximately 20 miles off the Romanian coast to locate the missing sailor.
Adrian Mihălcioiu, head of the Romanian Free Seafarers’ Union, told Euronews that reports indicate the commercial vessel was hit by both aerial and sea drones. He emphasized that the ship was purely a civilian merchant vessel with no connection to military operations.
The attack highlights the escalating dangers to international commercial shipping lanes and global food transit in the Black Sea.
