The crew of the container ship CONTSHIP JET was given the opportunity to evacuate, after which the ship was hit for the third time and sank in minutes. This is what the leader of "Vazrazhdane" Kostadin Kostadinov claims in a video publication.
“I am showing you footage of the third, fatal strike, filmed by a local person“, Kostadinov states. He claims that the incident occurred in front of the eyes of residents in the Shabla region, and raises the question of whether the vessel was carrying weapons. These are his claims, which have not been confirmed by the institutions.
18 sailors rescued
The officially confirmed information is that all 18 crew members have been rescued. The Ministry of Transport and Communications reported that the signal for the stricken container ship was received at 12:01 p.m. The ship was sailing under the Liberian flag on a route from Haifa, Israel, to Constanta, Romania.
According to the crew, the CONTSHIP JET was carrying 421 containers. At 12:13 p.m., the sailors left the vessel. Eight of them were taken on a Navy cutter, and the remaining ten were in the rescue boat. All are headed to Varna, where they are being met by the “Border Police“ and medical teams.
No confirmation that the ship sank
Defense Minister Dimitar Stoyanov has confirmed that the CONTSHIP JET was hit by three naval drones about 17 nautical miles east of Cape Kaliakra. After the attack, the ship suffered a severe list, and the crew left the board.
At the moment, there is no official statement confirming Kostadinov's claim that the vessel sank. It has not been established who is behind the attack. The Ministry of Transport and Communications indicated that the Navy, the Air Force and the General Directorate of the “Border Police“ participated in the rescue operation.
Sources: novini.bg, vesti.bg, trafficnews.bg