A Morning Attack, and a Rescue That Saved Fifteen

There is a particular vulnerability to a ship at sea, a vessel that carries not weapons but cargo, crewed by people whose work is to move goods across water. On Tuesday morning, two such ships were struck by drones in the Black Sea just outside Bulgaria's territorial waters, and the violence that arrived was not abstract. It was fire, and sinking, and men in the water .

The attacks occurred within minutes of each other. At 1:15 a.m., the Malta-flagged CHELSEA-3 was hit 17 nautical miles east of Byala. Five minutes later, the Guinea-Bissau-flagged HS Dignity was struck 17 nautical miles east of Shabla and subsequently sank . Both vessels were sailing without cargo. CHELSEA-3 was traveling from the Turkish port of Giresun to Giurgiulesti; HS Dignity was en route from Mostaganem, Algeria, to Braila, Romania .

The rescue operation that followed was carried out in rough seas by a nine-member crew of a Bulgarian Border Police vessel. All fifteen crew members of CHELSEA-3—seven Ukrainians and eight Azerbaijanis—were rescued and brought to Varna. Three were admitted to the hospital with second-degree burns, one also suffering a mild traumatic brain injury . Five members of the sixteen-strong crew of HS Dignity were rescued by two merchant vessels in the area. Eleven remained missing, believed to be Syrian and Egyptian nationals .

Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev described the attacks as "absolutely unacceptable" and convened an emergency meeting of the Security Council . He summoned the Russian ambassador, saying the circumstances suggested Russian involvement. "It made little sense for Ukraine to attack its own ships," Defence Minister Dimitar Stoyanov argued . The Russian ambassador said she had no information from her Defence Ministry and did not rule out a provocation by a third party .

The attacks have already caused economic damage. Shipping insurance premiums have risen. Carriers are reluctant to transport cargo to Bulgarian ports. Oil deliveries to the Burgas refinery face increased risks and costs . Radev spoke with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, both of whom expressed solidarity and indicated readiness to provide allied support .

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha accused Russia of carrying out the attacks and called for stronger sanctions . European Council President Antonio Costa said growing Russian hybrid activities would be discussed at the European Council meeting on October 15 and 16 . Bulgaria, Romania, and Turkiye coordinated a joint statement seeking a moratorium on drone attacks against commercial and civilian infrastructure in the Black Sea .

For the crews of the two ships, the morning was not about geopolitics but survival. The men rescued from CHELSEA-3 arrived in Varna with burns and injuries. The eleven from HS Dignity remain missing, their fates unknown. The Black Sea, already a theater of conflict since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, has become a place where merchant vessels are no longer safe, and the question of who is responsible remains, for now, contested.

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Sources:

· Bulgarian News Agency (BTA) · RTE · Bulgarian Interior Ministry statements