Sailors dead, missing after another commercial vessel reportedly hit by drones outside Romania's sovereign territorial waters

“Khoryv,” a commercial vessel, was reportedly hit by a drone 13 nautical miles (20 km) from the Romanian port city of Constanța, in the Black Sea, on Friday, October 23.

After receiving the distress signal, vessels belonging to the Romanian Agency for Saving Human Life at Sea (ARSVOM) and the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MAI) were dispatched to rescue the 13 sailors on board.

Nine of them have been rescued, three are missing, and one has died, according to Digi24.

“A large-scale search and rescue operation is currently underway in the Black Sea. The Maritime Coordination Centre within the Romanian Naval Authority was alerted today, at around 10:00, about the vessel Khoryv, which was in distress outside Romania’s territorial waters, 13 nautical miles abeam of Constanța. There were 13 crew members on board: 10 Ukrainian citizens and three Azerbaijani citizens,” representatives of the Romanian Naval Authority said.

A Black Hawk helicopter was also requested, but adverse weather conditions, namely torrential rain in Constanța, prevented it from reaching the site of the incident.

According to the information available so far, the vessel in question is a commercial ship flying the flag of the Comoros Islands.

The incident came amid an intensification of attacks on commercial vessels in the western Black Sea basin. Earlier this month, two ships were hit by drones in the Black Sea.

In reply, on Wednesday, October 21, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or NATO, announced that it had decided to send “additional resources” to the Black Sea following Russian drone attacks on commercial vessels in the territorial waters of Romania and Bulgaria.

The European Parliament also proposed considering a naval operation in the Black Sea, while Romania outlined plans to strengthen maritime surveillance and defenses against drones and sea mines.