Romania Launches Rescue for Ship Fire  10/15 06:27

   

   BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) -- Romanian authorities launched search and rescue 
operations off the Black Sea coast Thursday after a fire broke out on board a 
ship, leaving eight people missing. Four were rescued.

   The cause of the fire aboard the San Marino-flagged Wine Trader, a chemical 
tanker traveling from Tunisia to Romania, was not immediately clear, but a 
recent spate of drone strikes on ships in the Black Sea has raised fears of 
Russia's war in Ukraine spreading.

   A "group of air targets" was monitored overnight near Ukraine's Snake 
Island, and a drone briefly entered Romania's airspace at 1:34 a.m. southeast 
of Sulina, before disappearing from radar, according to Romania's Ministry of 
National Defense.

   There were 12 people aboard the ship when the fire broke out 13 nautical 
miles (15 miles) southeast of the port town of Sulina, according to the 
Romanian Naval Authority.

   Similar drone incursions have occurred this month in the exclusive economic 
zones of Romania and Bulgaria, both NATO and European Union members.

   A fire was reported on the Comoros-flagged Yara J, a chemical and oil tanker 
traveling from Turkey to Sulina, Romania, on Wednesday evening in Romanian 
territorial waters. The crew was safe.

   Romania's acting Defense Minister Radu Miruta said an investigation was 
underway but that no drone was seen on military radars heading toward that 
tanker.

   On Tuesday, drone strikes on two ships off Bulgaria prompted emergency 
rescue operations for 11 crew members from the HS Dignity, a 
Guinea-Bissau-flagged cargo ship, who remain missing.

   The other ship, a Ukrainian-operated coastal freighter named Chelsea 3, was 
sailing under a Maltese flag. Rescuers evacuated all 15 crew members, with five 
receiving treatment for minor injuries. The crew reported the ship's deck and 
hull were hit by three aerial drones.

   The Tuesday incidents, for which Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev said 
Russia was likely responsible for, came a week after sea and aerial drones 
struck two other commercial vessels in Bulgaria's exclusive economic zone in 
the Black Sea. A Togo-flagged ship sank, while a Bulgarian ferry evacuated the 
18-member crew of a damaged Palau-flagged vessel.

   A day earlier, on Oct. 5, a Turkish-owned cargo ship carrying corn caught 
fire following a drone attack and later sank in the Black Sea off the coast of 
Romania. Two people died and 11 crew members were rescued.