Drones hit two cargo ships near Sulina, at the mouth of the Danube, on the evening of Saturday 14 November, and both vessels caught fire, Romania's civil maritime authorities said. "In both cases the crews put out the fires. No casualties have been reported," Romania's Ministry of National Defence said.
At about 21:10, a drone struck the Greek-flagged tanker Evia Petrol V about 4 nautical miles east-southeast of Sulina.
At about 21:45, the bulk carrier Marsol was also hit, about 5 nautical miles southeast of the Sulina channel. A fire broke out on that ship too.
The ministry's radar spotted an air target east of Snake Island. Two Romanian Air Force F-16 jets, on duty for "Air Policing", then took off from the 86th Air Base at Fetești to monitor the situation. The National Military Command Centre told the General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations so that people in the eastern part of Tulcea county could be warned. The first RO-Alert message went out at 20:51, and the air raid alert was lifted at 21:37.
At 23:19, people in the eastern part of the county got a second RO-Alert message. Radars had picked up a new contact southeast of Sulina, and the National Military Command Centre again told the inspectorate. The alert ended at 00:27 on Sunday 15 November.
The drone attacks on ships in the Black Sea come amid the full-scale war between Russia and Ukraine. Last month, drones hit at least 7 cargo ships in the Black Sea, and several sailors died.
On 24 July, a Romanian F-16 pilot shot down a drone in Romanian airspace for the first time. It happened over an uninhabited area of Buzău county.