A merchant ship caught fire and sank off Romania’s Black Sea coast on Thursday night, most likely after being hit, Romanian President Nikusor Dan and authorities said.
Romanian border police confirmed on Friday a fire broke out on a commercial ship crossing Romania’s exclusive economic zone, but did not provide a cause.
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Black Sea shipping and port facilities have been targeted many times, and the pace of attacks has continued to escalate in 2026.
“The ship was hit… and appears to have sunk,” Dan told reporters at a news conference in Chisinau, Moldova on Thursday, adding that there was no information yet on who might have been involved in the possible attack.
“There will be an investigation, an investigation will be established, but it is not good for us to start speculating,” the president said. He said the activity took place outside Romanian territorial waters.
Romanian border police said in a statement that all 12 people on board the merchant ship were rescued.
“Ten of them were rescued by border guards, one of whom was injured, and the other two were rescued by merchant ship crews,” they said.
(Reporting by Anna Koper and Pawel Florkiewicz; Editing by Jan Harvey)
