LONDON: Fourteen Syrians were among 16 crew members aboard a cargo ship that sank overnight after a drone attack off Bulgaria, the Syrian Sailors Union said on Tuesday, as rescuers searched for 11 missing sailors.
The Guinea-Bissau-flagged HS Dignity sank 15 nautical miles east of the Bulgarian village of Krapets in one of two overnight attacks on merchant vessels in the Black Sea, Bulgarian officials said.
The union told Syria’s Alikhbariah TV that an aerial drone and two unmanned surface vessels struck the ship. Five crew members were rescued, and six boats and two helicopters were searching for the others, it said.
In the second attack, three drones struck the Ukrainian-owned, Maltese-flagged Chelsea 3 off the Bulgarian coastal town of Byala, authorities said.
Bulgarian border police rescued all 15 crew members, including seven Ukrainians and eight Azerbaijanis, and brought them to the port of Varna. Some were injured and received medical assistance, authorities said.
The attacks came a week after aerial and maritime drones struck two other commercial vessels in Bulgaria’s exclusive economic zone, about 70 nautical miles east of Byala.
The Togo-flagged Alpha Watan sank in the Oct. 6 attacks, while the Palau-flagged Ebel caught fire, the Bulgarian government said. All 18 crew members aboard the Ebel were rescued.
Accounts differed on how many people were aboard the Alpha Watan. Syrian authorities said the ship carried nine Syrians and one Egyptian, while Bulgarian state television reported Wednesday that 12 Syrian sailors had been aboard. The discrepancy remained unexplained.
Syria called on Thursday for an “independent and transparent” investigation into the sinking.
The earlier attacks also prompted Bulgaria to summon the Russian ambassador. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha accused Moscow of targeting commercial vessels and threatening maritime security in the Black Sea.
Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev, however, said his country lacked clear and conclusive evidence to identify who carried out the attacks, though he said their consequences benefited Russia.
Moscow said it had no knowledge of the latest attack. The Russian Embassy in Bulgaria previously denied responsibility for the Oct. 6 attacks.
