The attack on the vessel occurred on September 9, according to the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, which named the dead in its statement. The wounded were taken to a hospital in the Ukrainian port of Chornomorsk.
The Insider, citing the Support for Azerbaijani Sailors association, reported that ten people were aboard: four Azerbaijani citizens, three Turkish citizens, two Germans and one Ukrainian. Two other Azerbaijanis, Imran Novruzov and Rauf Aliyev, suffered burns and were taken to the Chornomorsk hospital.
According to the same association, drones attacked the TEDY in the Black Sea near Odesa in the morning. After the first strike the damaged vessel headed toward the Romanian port of Constanța, but came under two more attacks overnight.
The TEDY is a supply tug about 30 meters long, built in 1995 and registered under the flag of Somalia. The Insider examined vessel data provided by the Starboard Maritime Intelligence project: at 12:58 UTC on September 7 the ship left the Romanian port of Midia and headed northeast toward Odesa. At 16:41 its signal stopped for almost a day, and on September 8 the vessel reappeared in the system roughly 40 km southwest of Zmiinyi Island, effectively stationary. The TEDY sent its last signal from there at 16:24, less than a day before the first reports of the attack.
The Support for Azerbaijani Sailors association names the Turkish company Mert Marine Corporation as the owner of the TEDY. That information is confirmed by data examined by The Insider: the company is listed in the vessel's record as both owner and operator.
On the evening of September 9, Russia's Defense Ministry reported striking a vessel of the "tug" type that was escorting maritime vessels in the port of Odesa. The ministry did not give the vessel's name and did not report any dead crew members. On the morning of September 10, the Russian military reported striking two cargo ships at sea that it said were delivering cargo for the Ukrainian Armed Forces, and a tug. There is so far no direct confirmation that the ministry's report refers to the TEDY.
Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry said it is in contact with the Ukrainian authorities and diplomatic missions to provide assistance to the injured and to repatriate the bodies of the dead. The ministry advised Azerbaijani citizens to refrain from travel and work in combat zones and on vessels whose routes pass through them.
Vessels with foreign crews in the Black and Azov Seas have regularly become targets of Russian and Ukrainian drones in recent months. In June, drones attacked the ships Natra and Circon in the Taganrog Bay; according to updated figures from Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry, four Azerbaijani sailors were killed and four more wounded. Ukrainian military officials effectively confirmed the strikes, saying the vessels were used to transport stolen grain, military cargo and fuel. On July 14, Russian drones attacked two merchant ships near Odesa: the captain, an Azerbaijani citizen, and another crew member were killed aboard the cargo ship Atlas Bey, and three people were wounded. After a strike on the Guinea-Bissau-flagged cargo ship Golden Leo, which was carrying corn, ten people died, including four Indian citizens, after which New Delhi summoned Russia's chargé d'affaires.
Accounts differ: Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry did not say in its statement where exactly the vessel was attacked or who owned the drones. Open-source data and the Russian Defense Ministry's statement indicate the strike was carried out by Russian drones not far from the Odesa coast, but according to The Insider there is so far no direct confirmation linking the ministry's report to the TEDY.