Syria has called on the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the Bulgarian authorities to conduct an independent investigation into the sinking of the cargo ship Alfa Watan, which left ten crew members missing, nine of them Syrian nationals. The call came on 8 October from Mazen Aloush, director of international relations at the Syrian General Authority for Ports and Customs, Reuters reported.
Aloush described the attack as a serious violation of maritime safety and a direct threat to sailors’ lives. He urged Bulgaria to use all available technical means to locate and examine the wreck and to establish why the search was halted before the crew’s fate was known. In Syria’s view, the case must not be closed prematurely.
What happened
At around 3am on 6 October, sea and aerial drones struck two commercial vessels about 70 nautical miles (130 km) off Bulgaria’s coast, inside its exclusive economic zone, Al Jazeera reported. The Togo-flagged Alfa Watan, sailing north, suffered critical damage and sank at the scene. The second ship, the Palau-flagged Able, carrying wheat, caught fire; all 18 crew were evacuated, and two seriously injured sailors were flown to hospital in Varna.
The next day Bulgaria called off the search for the Alfa Watan’s crew. Rescue chief Rumen Nikolov said no trace of the sailors had been found.
Who is responsible
Responsibility has not been formally established. Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev said the type of cargo and the vessels’ direction of travel could point to Russia, but there was no evidence allowing Sofia to attribute responsibility directly, Baird Maritime reported. Russia’s embassy in Sofia said the merchant vessel was not among the targets of Russian drones.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine’s Defence Forces had carried out no operations in Bulgarian waters. According to him, Ukrainian Navy representatives contacted their Bulgarian counterparts and established that it was a combined Russian strike with sea and aerial drones. He made the remarks in his evening address on 6 October.
A second sinking within a week
On 13 October another ship, flagged in Guinea-Bissau, sank off the Bulgarian coast after a drone attack. Bulgarian officials and media have identified it as either the HS Dignity or the Azov Concord. Five sailors were rescued and 11 are missing, Marine Insight reported. The vessel was bound for the Romanian port of Braila after calling at Mostaganem in Algeria. The same day, drones hit the Malta-flagged Chelsea 3 near Byala; all 15 crew, including seven Ukrainians, were rescued. Bulgaria summoned the Russian ambassador.
The attacks show how the war in the Black Sea affects people and trade far beyond Ukraine: many seafarers from Arab countries serve on vessels in these waters, and the ships carry grain and other cargo between Black Sea ports and the Middle East and North Africa.
