Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev addresses the media following the incident in Bulgaria’s Black Sea economic zone (Photo: Reuters).
The ships were attacked by several drones about 128 kilometres off Bulgaria’s coast, Radev said, after he held an emergency meeting on the incident.
Officials had no immediate information about what happened to the crew, Radev said. One of the vessels, the Togo-flagged Alfa Watan, suffered critical structural damage and sank on the spot. In this zone, the coastal state only has functional economic rights like fishing, oil drilling, and mining rather than total sovereignty. Other nations still retain high seas freedoms, such as navigation and overflight.
Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev on Tuesday said two commercial vessels were struck by drones inside the country’s Exclusive Economic Zone, marking the first attack on shipping in the exclusive waters of a Nato country.