Merchant ship crew missing after drone sinks vessel in Bulgarias Black Sea

SOFIA — The crew of a merchant ship was ​missing on Tuesday after the vessel sank in the Black Sea off NATO member Bulgaria following a drone ‌strike that Prime Minister Rumen Radev described as a gross violation of international law.It was not immediately clear who carried out the attack by air and sea drones about 70 miles (112 km) off the coastal town of Byala in eastern Bulgaria, but there are growing concerns about hybrid attacks by Russia ​as it wages war in Ukraine.Shipping sources said it appeared to be the first such attack in Bulgarian waters.Bulgaria’s Prime Minister Rumen Radev said it was unclear whether the drones came from Russia or from Ukraine, the BTA news agency reported.Bulgaria does not border either country, but it holds a strategic position in the Black Sea, where both Ukraine and Russia have major ports.Two ships were hit in the attack, Radev said in a televised statement.

The crew of one, which was carrying grain, was rescued, with two injured.The other, which sank, was a Togo-flagged ship whose cargo was not disclosed.It is unclear how many people were on board.The incident occurred some 140 nautical miles away from the Ukrainian coast.A search has been launched for the missing crew and for any signs of an environmental threat.A maritime security source said initial assessments of the strike suggested it had probably been a Russian attack.Radev did not say who was behind the attack but made a reference to Russia’s war in Ukraine.

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“If this war is not brought to an end in time, it will continue to expand its geographical scope and increase the risk of even a global conflict,” he said.“We are seeing the war intensify, with all the rules of international law now being violated, and civilia...