Transport and communications minister Georgi Peev will visit Burgas on Monday, 12 October, to discuss shipping safety with the city and regional authorities, the ministry press office said on Sunday. The visit follows the first direct drone attack on ships in Bulgaria's exclusive economic zone in the Black Sea.
Peev will meet Burgas mayor Dimitar Nikolov and officials from the regional administration. They will also discuss transport links for Burgas, the development of the port terminal and joint plans for Eurovision 2027.
At 11:00, Peev and journalists will tour the public access zone of the Burgas-East 1 terminal and the traffic control tower. Port Burgas will give a short briefing at 11:30.
The attack took place on 6 October at about 03:00, some 70 nautical miles east of Byala and Cape Saint Atanas. Drones hit two ships.
The Togo-flagged ALFA VATAN (IMO 7510884) sank because of critical structural damage and lies at a depth of about 2,000 m. The merchant ship MERSI was sent to search after the strike.
A strong fire broke out on the Palau-flagged ABLE (IMO 9001136), and its 18 crew members left the ship. The Bulgarian-flagged ro-ro and passenger ferry DIOSKURIA (IMO 7931997) rescued the sailors. The injured received first aid on board. South-east of Varna, they were handed over to the border police boat "Burgas" for medical evacuation and transport to shore.
Yesterday ABLE was about 53 nautical miles east of Pasha Dere. East of Varna, the bulk carrier EMIL, hit off Ukraine, is also drifting without a crew.
Russia has been waging a full-scale war on Ukraine since February 2022. In response to the Russian invasion, Ukraine also began attacking merchant ships in early summer, while Russia strikes ships and Ukrainian ports. International shipping lanes have become a combat zone.
The Joint War Committee in London has expanded the high-risk area by almost 2.4 times, from about 171,400 to 411,200 sq km, according to bulletin JWLA-035. It responded to more frequent strikes by sea drones, unmanned aircraft and missiles. The new zone covers the whole Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, and the territorial waters of Russia and Ukraine are an active war-risk zone. The 12-mile territorial waters of Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey and Georgia are outside it.
Insurance for merchant ships has risen sharply. Shipowners and charterers must tell insurers in advance and pay war-risk premiums when they sail through international waters. Shipping grain, fuel and fertiliser also costs more because freight rates have gone up.
Some ships sail along coastal routes past Turkey, Bulgaria and Romania. The trip is longer, and heavy traffic raises the risk of accidents at sea.
Bulgaria, Turkey and Romania run a joint mine countermeasures group in the Black Sea. NATO and the EU also have projects for active shipping control and for monitoring critical undersea infrastructure.
Since the fighting began, the Bulgarian Navy has handled more than 300 reports of mines and floating hazardous objects. In 2026 alone, it has destroyed more than 30 drones, missiles and their debris.