Drones strike two merchant ships off Bulgarian coast in Black Sea, sinking one
Drones struck two commercial ships roughly 80 miles off the Bulgarian coast on Tuesday, sinking the cargo vessel Alfa Watan and leaving the ship Able ablaze.
Drone strikes in Bulgarian waters
Two commercial merchant ships were struck by drones on Tuesday, 6 October 2026, within Bulgaria's Exclusive Economic Zone in the Black Sea. The attacks occurred approximately 80 miles off the coast of the town of Byala, located in the Varna region. One of the vessels, the Togo-flagged cargo ship Alfa Watan, sustained severe damage from the impact and sank into the sea. The second commercial vessel, the Palau-flagged ship Able, caught fire after being hit in the same maritime area. The government in Sofia immediately placed maritime emergency response units on alert following the strikes, and the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre initiated emergency procedures.
Rescue operations and crew evacuations
Maritime rescue units initiated emergency response procedures to locate survivors across the coordinates of the strikes. The Bulgarian-flagged passenger vessel Dioscuria and the Saint Kitts and Nevis-flagged vessel Mercy both took part in the rescue operations near Byala. All 18 crew members aboard the Able abandoned the burning vessel and were pulled from the water by the crew of the Dioscuria. Several of the 18 rescued sailors suffered injuries during the attack and received emergency medical assistance on board the rescue craft. The Bulgarian Border Police prepared to transfer the survivors onto a patrol vessel to bring them ashore for further medical treatment in Varna hospitals. Roumen Nikolov, the director of the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre in Varna, reported via public radio BNR that the crew of the Alfa Watan remained unaccounted for as search efforts continued in the area.
- Turkish grain carrier sinks in Romanian waters after drone strike, leaving two dead and 11 rescued
- Drones strike Alfa Watan and Able roughly 80 miles off Byala in Bulgaria's economic zone
- Bulgarian vessel Dioscuria rescues all 18 crew members from the burning Able
- Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev convenes emergency security meeting in Sofia
Prior attack in Romanian waters
The strikes in Bulgarian waters followed a similar maritime incident that took place 24 hours earlier in the northern sector of the Black Sea. On Monday, 5 October 2026, a Turkish merchant vessel carrying grain from Ukraine to Italy caught fire and sank in Romania's Exclusive Economic Zone. That ship was struck by two Russian drones while navigating through the Romanian maritime corridor. The sinking of the Turkish vessel resulted in the deaths of two crew members, while 11 other sailors were rescued from the deck by maritime rescue personnel. The back-to-back incidents marked consecutive strikes against commercial shipping operating within the economic zones of European Union and NATO member states.
Emergency security meeting in Sofia
The strikes off Byala prompted the Bulgarian government to treat the situation as a serious national security incident. Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev convened an extraordinary meeting in Sofia with representatives from the Presidency, the security services, and four government ministries. Officials taking part in the emergency consultations included representatives from the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Interior, and the Ministry of Transport. As of Tuesday morning, Bulgarian authorities had not officially determined the launch site of the drones or identified the party responsible for the strikes against the Alfa Watan and the Able. Maritime coordination centres and regional port authorities maintained active monitoring of commercial shipping traffic across the western Black Sea.
