The distress signal came around midday, and the sailors began evacuating 12 minutes later. Three Bulgarian navy ships and a border police boat were sent to the scene, the ministry said.
The CONTSHIP JET is owned by a Greek company and sails under the flag of Liberia. It was traveling from Haifa in Israel to Constanta in Romania and, according to the crew, was carrying 421 containers. The crew consisted of 14 Philippine citizens and four Ukrainian citizens, Bulgarian National Radio reported.
According to the Bulgarian Defense Ministry, the drones struck the vessel three times. The ship listed heavily and more than 20 containers fell overboard. According to a navigational warning, some of them contain hazardous cargo, including flammable gases and liquids. The attack was recorded by navy surveillance systems and a French patrol aircraft over the western Black Sea.
The CONTSHIP JET is at least the fifth merchant vessel attacked by drones in Bulgaria's exclusive economic zone in October. Overnight on October 6, the vessels Alfa Watan and Able were attacked there: the first sank and its crew has not been found, while the crew of the second, 11 Turkish citizens and seven Indian citizens, was rescued. On October 13, after strikes on two other vessels, one of them, the HS Dignity, sank, and the crew of the attacked CHELSEA-3 was evacuated.
On October 23, a commercial vessel that was presumably hit by a drone sank in the Black Sea off the coast of Romania. There were 13 crew members on board: 10 Ukrainian citizens and three Azerbaijani citizens, the Romanian Naval Authority said. Ukraine's Foreign Ministry later reported the death of a Ukrainian sailor.
Against the backdrop of the attacks, Bulgaria has asked its allies to provide combat aircraft, missile systems and counter-drone systems. NATO said it would send additional maritime reconnaissance aircraft, radar systems and drones to the Black Sea.
It has not been officially established who launched the sea drones. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky blamed Russia for the attack on the vessels on October 6. Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev has said such strikes benefit Moscow. The Kremlin has not acknowledged involvement in the attacks. After the October 13 incident, Bulgaria's Foreign Ministry summoned the Russian ambassador for explanations.
On the day of the attack on the CONTSHIP JET, a trilateral meeting of the defense ministers of Bulgaria, Turkey and Romania - Dimitar Stoyanov, Yasar Guler and Stefan Radu-Oprea - was taking place in Sofia. Stoyanov said the three countries are united in their position and condemn drone attacks on merchant ships in the Black Sea, calling these incidents a dangerous escalation of tension. Representatives of the three countries called for an immediate end to attacks threatening merchant ships, maritime infrastructure and the safety of maritime operations.