Bulgarian investigators inspecting the badly damaged ship Chelsea 3 in the port of Burgas have found parts of a drone on board, transport minister Georgi Peev said, according to media reports. Experts will test the parts to show where they come from.
The ship was hit on October 13.
How the story began: Military prosecutors and counter-terror officers look for traces of the drones on Chelsea 3 in Burgas
Officials have not said who carried out the attack. They said the drones were not Bulgarian, but no origin has been officially confirmed. Peev did not say what the parts are or whether they carry markings that could show who made them or where they came from.
The Military District Prosecutor's Office in Sofia is overseeing the investigation. Experts are closely examining the hull, the holes and the other damage. Tests on the parts will show where the drones came from and how the damage was done, including what explosives were used. Peev said the public will be told when the results are ready.
The Transport Ministry says three aerial drones hit Chelsea 3 in Bulgaria's exclusive economic zone, about 17 nautical miles east of Byala. All 15 crew members were rescued.
The same night, the cargo ship HS Dignity, which sailed under the flag of Guinea-Bissau, was also hit off Shabla. It sank.
Peev saw the holes himself and said they are very serious. He said towing the ship to Burgas was very hard because of the heavy damage to the hull and the bad weather. Bulgarian forces carried out the operation. The Transport Ministry and the Maritime Administration ran it, and the navy and the border police took part.
"The biggest challenge was, on the one hand, the bad weather, and on the other, the fact that the ship is not sound," said captain Zhivko Petrov of the Maritime Administration as the ship arrived in Burgas.
Technical checks are now under way at the port, where access is controlled. Even before the find, Peev told media that Bulgaria would make every effort to learn, through an independent investigation, where the attack came from.
Bulgaria is still watching the sea and sharing information with Romania and Turkey. The country is working to make shipping in its territorial waters as safe as possible, the minister said.
Peev warned that the effects of military action near Bulgarian waters may be felt for a long time. He added that ship traffic through Varna and Burgas has not fallen and is even growing slightly.
The ministry's main aim now is to keep grain exports moving through Black Sea ports, because it is the harvest season. It is therefore preparing several steps to give grain growers better conditions.