Eight crew missing after two tankers catch fire in Romanian waters

Bucharest, Romania. Romanian officials said a search was under way on Thursday for eight crew members missing after two chemical tankers caught fire overnight in Romania’s Black Sea territorial waters. The fires followed incursions by Russian drones into Romanian airspace, although officials did not explicitly connect the events.

Search follows emergency alert

Romania’s naval authority reported receiving a distress alert from Wine Trader, a tanker registered under the San Marino flag. Of the vessel’s 12 crew members, four were safe and eight remained missing.

The other vessel, Yara J, had caught fire earlier. The chemical and oil tanker flies the Comoros flag, and everyone aboard was safe. Romanian authorities initially said they could not establish whether the vessel had come under attack.

Both tankers were at anchor near the entrance to the Sulina Canal, which connects the Danube River with the Black Sea. Ships frequently wait there for passage when weather conditions and congestion cause delays.

Further incidents near NATO coastlines

The fires came after drone attacks struck at least five other cargo vessels over the preceding 10 days near Romania and neighbouring Bulgaria, both NATO members. At least 23 sailors were lost in those strikes.

Unlike the latest fires, those earlier attacks occurred immediately beyond NATO territorial waters.

Romania has a 614-km (381-mile) frontier with Ukraine, with much of the boundary following the Danube. Romanian authorities have reported recurring Russian drone incursions into the country’s airspace during the past four years.

War puts shipping routes under pressure

The Danube is an important shipping route for Ukraine as Russian bombardments of its Black Sea ports have pushed Kyiv to make greater use of river ports and routes near the Romanian and Bulgarian coastlines.

Ukraine, meanwhile, has attacked Russian vessels close to where the Don River enters the Azov Sea.

An increase in attacks on Black Sea shipping associated with the Russia-Ukraine war in recent months has raised the threat of a worldwide food crisis, given the importance of both countries as grain exporters.