A Turkish grain ship sank in the Black Sea on Monday, October 5, after a drone hit it and set it on fire.
The ship burned outside Romania's territorial waters, in the country's exclusive economic zone, near OMV Petrom's Pescarus platform. The spot is about 20 nautical miles from shore.
Coast guard data put the sunken ship about 9 nautical miles southeast of the platform. Romania's interior ministry gave a different position, about 30 nautical miles south of Sfantu Gheorghe.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said two Russian drones carried out the attack. "A monstrous attack by two Russian drones on a civilian ship in international waters, carrying corn and owned by a company from Turkey," he said. He said Azerbaijani and Indian nationals were on board.
Unofficial reports say the ship was hit by four drones.
The distress call set off a response from several Romanian agencies. At 10:37am, the Constanta maritime rescue coordination centre (MRCC) called in ARSVOM, Romania's sea rescue agency. Two minutes later the rescue ship SAR Apollo left Sulina, and at 10:45am SAR Ares headed for the southern platform area. SAR Artemis also set out from Dana 72.
Around 11am, Constanta MRCC told the ANR shipping authority and coast guard border police there was a fire on board. A coast guard ship was named on-site coordinator. Romania's interior ministry and the general aviation inspectorate also joined the operation.
A helicopter from the general aviation inspectorate winched up three injured sailors and sent them straight for medical care. The other eight survivors, in good condition, were picked up by the rescue ships.
Romanian officials first said the captain was injured and 13 crew members were missing. At 1:36pm the interior ministry said 11 had been rescued and two had died.
"One sailor is still being searched for. One body still has to be recovered from a life raft," the ANR said at 2:10pm. The authority called it a serious maritime incident outside Romania's territorial waters.
The interior ministry said the operation was still under way, with coast guard ships and the helicopter still working the area. The ministry also released footage of the rescue.
The Turkish-owned ship, the Royad Mammadov, was built in 2006 and sails under the flag of St Kitts and Nevis. It was carrying corn. Unofficial reports say the crew were Indian and Azerbaijani nationals.
The ship's last port call was Izmail in Ukraine on September 18. It was heading to Ravenna in Italy, where it was due to arrive on October 12, according to tracking data from VesselFinder.
OMV Petrom said at 3:25pm that the incident happened some distance from the Pescarus platform and had not affected its operations or staff safety. The platform is still running normally, though the company did not say how far away the incident took place.
OMV Petrom added that it is working with Romanian authorities on security, monitoring and response to any problems at Black Sea energy sites.
The strike comes as Ukraine finds it harder and harder to ship its grain abroad.