Bulgarian National Radio reported that the bodies of five sailors have been found during an inspection of the tanker Wine Trader, which was hit by drones in the Black Sea and towed to Varna for repairs.
The fate of two more crew members is unknown. The names of the dead have not been released, and it has not been said how exactly the bodies were found.
There were 12 sailors on board. Five were rescued and seven went missing. Six of the missing are citizens of Benin and one is Russian, said the company that operates the ship.
The tanker was hit on 15 October, about 13 nautical miles off the Romanian coast, near the port of Sulina. Early reports said the ship was outside Romania's territorial waters. Salvadore Adorno, a spokesman for the operator, said survivors told them three drones struck the ship, two in the living quarters and one on the deck.
The strikes set the superstructure on fire, and the crew struggled to cope. Romanian rescue services received an alert at about 7am and sent specialist vessels. The search for the seven missing men was hard because of the state of the ship and bad weather. Until the bodies were found, there was no confirmed information about them.
A tug towed the tanker to Varna, where it arrived on 1 November and was taken in for repairs. During the inspections, specialists had to assess the damage to the rooms and decide what repairs are needed. The bodies were found more than three weeks after the attack.
Adorno is sure Russia is behind the attack. Romanian president Nicusor Dan confirmed that drones attacked merchant ships near Sulina, but he did not say outright who was behind them. There is still no firm proof of who carried out the attack.
The identities of the dead are still to be formally confirmed.
A series of serious incidents hit the western Black Sea, off Bulgaria and Romania, in October. On the night of 13 October, the cargo ship HS Dignity was hit off Shabla and sank. Of the 16 sailors on board, five survived and 11 were reported missing. At first, the sunken ship was wrongly reported to be the Azov Concord.
At almost the same time, three drones hit the Malta-flagged Chelsea-3 off Byala. All 15 crew members were rescued. The ship was left with no one on board and drifted south until the maritime authorities took control of it. On 17 October it was brought to the port of Burgas.
After the incidents, Bulgarian authorities stepped up checks on data about the routes, cargo and technical condition of ships entering Bulgarian territorial waters.