Bulgarian rescuers have ended the search for sailors from the Alfa Watan, which sank after a drone attack in the Black Sea. No trace of the crew was found, and officials believe they died.
The decision was announced in Varna by maritime rescue center head Rumen Nikolov. He said search teams found neither sailors nor bodies. They recovered a boat, life jackets and part of another attacked vessel. Nikolov said the ship sank in about three minutes, leaving the crew, in his view, no time to evacuate.
The Togo-flagged Alfa Watan was travelling from Egypt to Romania. It was badly damaged in Tuesday’s drone attack inside Bulgaria’s exclusive economic zone, about 130 kilometres from shore. Bulgaria’s rescue center said between 10 and 20 people may have been aboard.
The same attack set fire to the Palau-flagged Able. A Bulgarian vessel rescued all 18 crew members: 11 Turkish and seven Indian nationals. Two sailors were taken to hospital in Varna. One had burns covering 45 percent of his body and was in serious condition, doctors said.
Bulgarian authorities are investigating where the drones came from. MTI and other regional outlets reported that the search ended without the crew being found. The Associated Press reported separately that the origin of the drones was under investigation; Ukraine’s president blamed Russia, while Russian officials had not publicly commented on that accusation at the time.