Four sailors who survived the sinking of the ship HS Dignity in the Black Sea have arrived in Varna. A fifth survivor is expected later tonight, Varna regional governor Mario Smarkov said, BTA reported.

Three of the sailors are Syrian and one is Egyptian. They are in fairly good condition and have no injuries.

Border police officers are already talking to them. They have been given somewhere to stay, food and clothes.

The Ministry of Transport and Communications said on Tuesday that HS Dignity sailed under the flag of Guinea-Bissau and was travelling without cargo from the Algerian port of Mostaganem to Braila in Romania. At 1:20am, 17 nautical miles east of Shabla, a drone hit the ship and it sank. Five of the 16 crew members survived.

The first report of the sinking came from a rescued sailor. At the same time, the ship's Automatic Identification System (AIS) signal went dead. The ships Azov Concord and SCANDI ASSERTER, which were in the area, gave first aid to the five survivors.

CHELSEA-3, which sails under the flag of Malta, was also attacked the same night. The attack came at 1:15am local time, 17 nautical miles east of Byala. The ship then dropped anchor. All 15 crew members were rescued.

CHELSEA-3 was also travelling without cargo. It was sailing from Giresun, a Turkish Black Sea port, to Giurgiulesti.

The distress call from Chelsea-3 reached the regional coordination centre of the border police in Burgas at around 1:15am on 13 October. The border police vessel 514 Burgas picked up all 15 crew members.

The sailors were rescued today, despite bad weather, in a joint effort by the border police, the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre, the navy and the police. Smarkov said the rescue succeeded because the services acted in a coordinated way.