The cargo ship Alfa Watan, which sank after a drone strike in the Black Sea, was carrying about 3,000 tonnes of salt, not weapons, said Burgas maritime expert Doychin Doychev. He knows the ship's owner. Maritime specialists in Burgas have reacted sharply to claims that the vessel had arms for Ukraine on board.
Drones hit Alfa Watan and another civilian cargo ship, Able, on Tuesday, 6 October, in Bulgaria's exclusive economic zone. Alfa Watan sank on the spot, and there is no word on the fate of its crew. All 18 sailors from Able were rescued.
Doychev said the salt was loaded in the Egyptian port of El Arish, and the ship was sailing north to the Romanian port of Sulina. After unloading there, it was due to pick up grain for Egypt.
Alfa Watan is Togo-flagged. It was built in 1976, has a deadweight of 3,160 tonnes and is owned by Baraka Shipping of Mersin. The strike caused critical damage to its structure.
Able is Palau-flagged, has a deadweight of 7,416 tonnes and belongs to the fleet of Ocean Eagle of Istanbul. Both ships have Turkish owners. Able was loaded in Galati, Romania, and was heading south to Turkey. It was reportedly carrying wheat.
The attack came at about 3:00 (00:00 GMT), prime minister Rumen Radev said. At about 4:00 local time, both ships sent distress signals. At about 9:00, one of them vanished from the Border Police radar.
The strikes were east of Cape Saint Athanasius and the town of Byala. Reports put the distance from the coast at between 70 and 80 nautical miles. Radev said it was about 70 nautical miles, or 130 km.
A fire broke out on Able after the strike, and the whole crew left the ship. The Bulgarian ferry Dioskuria, which was redirected to the area, picked up the sailors. A Navy fast boat also took part in the evacuation.
The injured sailors got first aid on board and were then taken to hospitals on shore. Radev said two of them are seriously hurt and were flown to a hospital in Varna.
"The crew of one ship is missing, and the sailors from the second ship have been rescued," Rumen Nikolov, head of the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre in Varna, told Bulgarian National Radio.
Bulgarian authorities have launched a large-scale search for the missing sailors from Alfa Watan. They are searching about 150 km east of Byala. Radev did not say how many sailors are missing.
The prime minister called an emergency meeting with officials from the defence ministry, the interior ministry, the transport ministry, the environment ministry, the president's office and the security services. Radev is expected to speak to the media at the start of the meeting and again after the urgent action is taken.
"An unacceptable attack in Bulgaria's exclusive economic zone," Radev said, calling the strike a gross breach of international and maritime law.
The office of president Iliana Yotova confirmed the attack in a written statement sent by email, without giving details. The government declined to comment. It is not known where the drones came from or who is behind the strike.
Ursula von der Leyen called the attacks on civilian shipping in the Black Sea "unacceptable" and the situation "very worrying". She said the exact circumstances are not yet clear.
A day earlier, on Monday, the Turkish ship Royad Mammadov caught fire and sank off Romania. It was carrying Ukrainian wheat to Italy. Romania says a drone hit it, and two crew members died.
The drone war between Russia and Ukraine is making the Black Sea ever more dangerous for ships. The number of military targets in it, mostly in Romanian, Bulgarian and Turkish waters, has more than doubled in six months, according to data last month from maritime risk firm Ambrey.
Authorities are watching for a possible oil spill and other signs of pollution.