Drones Sink a Cargo Ship off Bulgaria and 11 Sailors Are Missing as Sofia Summons Russia's Ambassador

Two merchant ships were hit by drones inside Bulgaria's Black Sea economic zone overnight. One of them, the Guinea-Bissau-flagged HS Dignity, sank with 11 sailors still missing. The other, the Maltese-flagged Chelsea 3, was evacuated with all 15 crew accounted for. By Tuesday afternoon, Sofia had summoned Russia's ambassador and asked NATO and the European Union for help.

Drones Sink a Cargo Ship off Bulgaria and 11 Sailors Are Missing as Sofia Summons Russia's Ambassador

Sofia, Bulgaria — The Bulgarian government says it does not yet have conclusive evidence about who launched the drones, but the prime minister has already told the country which way the outcome points.

Two Ships Hit Inside a NATO Member's Economic Zone

Two merchant vessels were struck by drones overnight into Tuesday inside Bulgaria's Black Sea exclusive economic zone, outside Bulgarian territorial waters but close enough to the coast to be seen from shore. One sank. The other was damaged and evacuated. The attacks triggered an emergency meeting of Bulgaria's Security Council at the Council of Ministers, which Bulgarian broadcaster NOVA reported lasted less than an hour. Prime Minister Rumen Radev summoned Russia's ambassador, Eleonora Mitrofanova, and spoke by telephone with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, urging their support to bolster Bulgaria's maritime and airspace surveillance. In a televised address, Radev called the strikes "absolutely unacceptable — another attack in the immediate vicinity of Bulgarian territorial waters." Bulgaria also formally requested assistance from NATO and the European Union to investigate the strikes. The country is a NATO member. The water is its economic zone. The ships were civilian. Both were sailing without cargo. The strikes mark the second such attack on commercial shipping in Bulgarian waters in a week.

What Bulgaria Says It Knows, and What It Won't Say

Radev did not name an attacker. In a social media statement, he said Bulgaria lacked solid, clear evidence to level accusations against any specific party, but added that "logic suggests the outcome works to the advantage of the Russian Federation." He repeated that Bulgaria had no "clear and conclusive evidence" to point fingers. Defence Minister Dimitar Stoyanov went further on Bulgarian national television, saying it would be "illogical for the Ukrainians to strike their own ships" and that "under these circumstances, we assume the drones are Russian." Stoyanov also said drone wreckage still needed to be recovered and analysed. President Iliana Iotova condemned the attacks on commercial vessels as a "flagrant violation of international law" and said she was convening the Consultative Council on National Security — a body she had already convened after the 6 October strikes. No party has been officially established as responsible. The Bulgarian government's public position remains that the evidence is not yet conclusive.

The Ship That Sank: HS Dignity

The vessel that went down is the HS Dignity, a Guinea-Bissau-flagged general cargo ship with IMO number 9545912. President Iotova identified it, and Dobrich regional governor Ruslan Strahilov confirmed the identification. The Bulgarian Transport and Communications Ministry said the ship was struck by a drone at 1:20 a.m. local time. The first report that the vessel had sunk came from a rescued seafarer and coincided with the loss of its Automatic Identification System signal. The ship was sailing without cargo from Mostaganem, Algeria, to Braila, Romania. Its crew were Syrian and Egyptian nationals, according to the Bulgarian interior ministry. Two vessels in the area, the Azov Concord and the Scandi Asserter, were the first to assist five surviving crew members. Varna regional governor Mario Smrkov said five sailors were rescued and the search for the other 11 continued. The Guinea-Bissau flag is widely used by the so-called shadow fleet of ageing tankers and bulkers.

Chelsea 3: Fifteen Crew, All Accounted For

The second ship, the Chelsea 3, is a Maltese-flagged general cargo vessel, IMO number 9361392, owned by Ukraine and registered in the Ukrainian port of Odesa. It was hit by three aerial drones. Radev said it was struck about 18 nautical miles off Bulgaria, near the town of Byala, at about 1:30 a.m. local time on Tuesday — 22:30 GMT on Monday. The Transport Ministry said the attack came at 1:15 a.m. and that the ship dropped anchor afterwards. All 15 crew members were rescued: seven Ukrainians and eight Azerbaijanis. They were taken to the port of Varna aboard a Bulgarian Border Police vessel. Five received treatment for minor injuries; one Bulgarian account describes five minor injuries and one minor burn. No one was seriously hurt. The ship was sailing without cargo from the Turkish Black Sea port of Giresun towards Giurgiulesti, Moldova. Bulgarian outlet Maritime.bg reported the owner of Chelsea 3 said they did not know who attacked the ship.

The Accounts Do Not Agree on the Numbers

The accounts do not agree on how many people were pulled from the water after HS Dignity went down. Reuters, Agence France-Presse, The Associated Press and the Bulgarian Transport Ministry say five rescued and 11 missing. Defence Minister Dimitar Stoyanov is reported saying six rescued and 10 missing. Both figures cannot be correct. The position and timing of the two strikes also differ between official accounts. The presidency places the sinking 17 nautical miles east of the village of Krapets; the Transport Ministry places it 17 nautical miles east of Shabla. Krapets sits inside Shabla municipality, but the two reference points are not the same. For Chelsea 3, the prime minister said the ship was struck about 18 nautical miles off Byala; the ministry said 17 nautical miles east of Byala. On timing, the ministry said the attack came at 1:15 a.m.; the prime minister said about 1:30 a.m. These are not rounding differences. They are unresolved discrepancies in the official record of a deadly attack inside a NATO member's economic zone.

A Week Earlier, the Same Water

Exactly a week earlier, on 6 October 2026, sea and aerial drones attacked two commercial vessels in Bulgaria's exclusive economic zone. One of them, the Togo-flagged Alfa Watan, sank, leaving 10 sailors — nine Syrians and one Egyptian — missing and presumed dead. Another vessel sustained damage but its crew survived. Reuters reported the 6 October attack occurred about 70 nautical miles off Byala, eastern Bulgaria, and that shipping sources said it appeared to be the first such attack in Bulgaria's EEZ. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said at the time that a joint investigation by Ukraine's navy and Bulgaria established that Russia was behind the 6 October attack, which he described as a combined attack using both sea and aerial drones. Bulgaria said at the time that the circumstances were unclear and did not explicitly blame Russia. The day before those strikes, Romanian authorities said two people had died in a fire on a ship in the Black Sea outside Romania's territorial waters; Zelensky blamed Russian drones.

Moscow Says It Has No Information

Russian Ambassador to Bulgaria Eleonora Mitrofanova said after meeting Radev in Sofia that she had no information from the Russian Defence Ministry about attacks on commercial vessels in the Black Sea, but did not rule out that they could be a provocation by a third party, according to the Bulgarian government. Mitrofanova said she understood Radev's reasoning but had received no information from the Russian government related to the recent attacks, the Bulgarian Government Information Service said. There was no immediate comment from Moscow on the incidents, Reuters reported. The ambassador's statement leaves the central question unanswered: who launched the drones. It also leaves open the possibility, floated by Mitrofanova herself, that a third party was responsible. Bulgarian officials have not endorsed that explanation. Stoyanov's public assessment pointed the other way. The wreckage, he said, still needs to be recovered and analysed. Until it is, the Russian position is that Moscow knows nothing.

NATO, the EU and the Two Neighbours

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen wrote on X that "the Black Sea has become another front of escalation of the Russian war in Ukraine" and that "those responsible should be held accountable." Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha wrote on X that the strike "once again demonstrates Moscow's deliberate disregard for civilian lives," adding that "the Black Sea is a lifeline for global food security. Russia is attacking it to weaponise hunger and hold the world hostage." NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, after a call with Radev, said NATO will continue to adjust its military presence on its eastern flank "as needed" and that the alliance "will continue to monitor the security environment, adjusting our deterrence and defence posture." Radev also discussed the attacks by telephone with Romanian Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan; the two stressed the need for closer cooperation among Bulgaria, Romania and Turkiye on regional security and safe navigation. Stoyanov spoke to his Romanian and Turkish counterparts. Bulgarian MEPs initiated a European Parliament delegation visit to Bulgaria.

A War Crimes Complaint, and an Election in Twelve Days

The Bulgarian Helsinki Committee and the Bulgarian Lawyers for Human Rights foundation called on the prosecution service on Tuesday to investigate whether the recent drone strikes on merchant ships in the Black Sea constitute war crimes. The alert relates to both the 6 and 13 October strikes. Opposition party GERB said Radev should speak to Vladimir Putin or Dmitry Peskov directly, calling the Russian ambassador "below his level." Bulgaria's presidential election is scheduled for 25 October 2026. Incumbent president Iliana Iotova, who took office in 2026 after Rumen Radev moved to the premiership, is running for a full term. The Central Election Commission is repairing 12,800 voting machines ahead of the vote; over 7,200 had been repaired and all were expected ready by Thursday. Twelve days out from a national vote, the government is managing a maritime security crisis, a diplomatic summons and an unresolved death toll in the same water where ten sailors died a week ago.

What Comes Next

Search and rescue operations continued Tuesday for the missing crew of HS Dignity. Drone wreckage from the Chelsea 3 strike still needs to be recovered and analysed, Stoyanov said. Bulgaria's Consultative Council on National Security is convening. The prosecution service has been asked to examine whether the strikes amount to war crimes. NATO and the EU have pledged support for establishing the circumstances, but neither has announced a specific new operation or mission. The maritime risk management group Ambrey said last month that at least 45 merchant vessels had been attacked over the previous 12 months in areas previously not listed as high risk, and that no strikes were recorded in those areas in the preceding 12 months. The increase was driven by attacks further from the coasts of Russia and Ukraine. More than four and a half years into the war Moscow launched with its full-scale invasion in 2022, Black Sea shipping has been drawn into a battle of economic endurance. Two ships were hit Tuesday. One is on the seabed. Eleven sailors are unaccounted for.

By Jessica Ali, Staff Writer

This article was produced with AI-assisted research and editorial support. Sources: Reuters, Agence France-Presse, The Associated Press, BBC, Al Jazeera, POLITICO, Bulgarian News Agency, Bulgarian Transport and Communications Ministry, Bulgarian Government Information Service and Maritime.bg.