All 18 sailors from the crew of the container ship CONTSHIP JET have been rescued and are safe after the attack by three sea drones off the Bulgarian Black Sea coast. The crew has left the ship and evacuated on life rafts, and a “Border Police“ cutter has sailed from Varna to the distressed sailors.
The ship's management company has confirmed to Maritime.bg that all crew members are safe. “All sailors from the crew of the CONTSHIP JET are safe. "Thank you Bulgaria," the company said.
The ship was hit near Kaliakra
CONTSHIP JET sails under the Liberian flag and was making a transition from Haifa, Israel, to the Romanian port of Constanta. The ship has IMO number 9348625.
Defense Minister Dimitar Stoyanov announced that the attack was carried out by three naval drones about 21 nautical miles southeast of Shabla. Specialized maritime publications indicate that the strike occurred about 16 nautical miles from Cape Kaliakra.
Earlier data indicated that after the attack the ship suffered serious damage and was engulfed in fire, but remained afloat. No crew members were reported dead or missing.
The incident occurred during a trilateral meeting of the defense ministers of Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey in Sofia. After the talks, the three countries condemned the attacks on commercial vessels in the Black Sea and agreed on a mechanism for coordination, information exchange and early warning. There is still no official confirmation on which party is behind the attack.
Sources: vesti.bg, bgonair.bg, chernomore.bg