Black Sea vessel fire leaves eight missing, Romania says

Eight people were missing after a fire broke out on the San Marino-flagged vessel Wine Trader in the Black Sea on Thursday, October 15, Romania's Naval Authority said.

The authority said the vessel reported the blaze at about 7:00 a.m. local time, around 13 nautical miles southeast of the Romanian city of Sulina. It said 12 people were on board, four were safe and eight were missing.

Romania's interior ministry said several vessels and two Black Hawk helicopters were involved in a search and rescue operation, but rough seas were making the effort difficult. The ministry said it was not possible at that stage to rescue people safely because of very high waves.

The VesselFinder tracking website identified the Wine Trader as a chemical tanker. It was not immediately clear what cargo it was carrying.

Romanian authorities did not say whether a drone caused the fire. Defence Minister Radu Miruta told Digi24 that an investigation was underway into whether the vessel was struck by a drone, and said such incidents in Romanian territorial waters were a matter of significant gravity.

The incident came a day after Romania said it was investigating a possible fresh drone attack on the Comoros-flagged tanker Yara J off its Black Sea coast. Rescuers went to help after a fire broke out, but the ship's crew put out the flames themselves.

Black Sea shipping has faced growing fallout from the Russia-Ukraine war. Suspected Russian drones have hit several ships off Romania and Bulgaria since last week, and Turkey's IMEAK chamber of shipping said at least 163 civilian and commercial vessels were hit on the Black Sea in the first eight months of this year.