Six Black Sea ship attacks reach Romanian waters

Six Black Sea ship attacks in 10 days reached Bulgarian and Romanian waters in October, The Guardian reported in an Oct. 18 newspaper article, citing suspected Russian drones.

The reported toll included 11 dead crew members and 17 missing sailors. That compares with more than 60 seafarer fatalities in the Black Sea since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

The Turkish-owned Alfa Watan was hit on Oct. 6 while sailing toward Sulina, Romania, according to the report. A Bulgarian ferry, Dioscuria, later found an overturned lifeboat and lifejackets, but not the cargo ship’s 10 crew members.

Six days later, drones hit HS Dignity off Bulgaria, killing 11 crew members, The Guardian reported. The Able and Chelsea-3 were also struck, and the chemical tankers Wine Trader and Yara J were attacked and left burning as the violence moved into Romania’s airspace and territorial waters.

“While attacks against merchant vessels in the Black Sea are not new, we are seeing an escalation both in terms of the number of attacks and in the geographical scope,” Tomas Alexa, a senior analyst at maritime insurer and risk analyst Ambrey, told The Guardian.

Ambrey warned that threats to Black Sea cargo shipping, including grain and oil, showed no near-term sign of easing and that insurance costs for passage through the waters had risen. Alexa said attack frequency had increased since July and estimated Russian forces were responsible for 80% of the incidents.

Alexa said the targeted vessels were still those trading with Ukraine. “The Russian intent is clear, which is to degrade the export of Ukrainian grain and agricultural products,” he said.

The incidents sharpen the security concern for Romania and Bulgaria, both Nato members, because several attacks occurred in or near waters where they have direct maritime interests. They also add pressure on trade routes used for Ukrainian agricultural exports through the Black Sea and Danube-linked ports.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said after Alfa Watan sank: “Commercial ships – and innocent crews – are being targeted, with lives already lost at sea.”

At the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, Col. Joby Rimmer, a senior British military adviser, said attacks that do not distinguish between military targets and civilian vessels, or that cause excessive civilian harm, “may violate international humanitarian law and the UN convention on the law of the sea.”

The Guardian described the drones as suspected Russian drones, while Ambrey gave an estimate of Russian responsibility; the fate of Alfa Watan’s crew was not resolved in the report.

In September, the Joint War Committee, which represents the London insurance market, expanded the Black Sea high-risk area to cover the whole basin while excluding the territorial waters of Turkey, Romania, Bulgaria and Georgia.

Source: newspaper report, The Guardian, Oct. 18