13 missing after cargo ship hit by drone and set ablaze off Romania

Romanian authorities are searching the Black Sea for 13 crew members missing after a cargo ship carrying cereal was reportedly hit by a drone and caught fire roughly 20 nautical miles off the country's coast. According to the Romanian Naval Authority, the vessel's captain was injured in the incident. The Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre in Constanța was alerted at around 11 am and sent several rescue vessels to the area near the Pescarus oil platform.

The ship was identified as the ROYAD MAMMADOV, a general cargo vessel built in 2006 and flagged to Saint Kitts and Nevis, according to Breaking The News. It had left the Ukrainian port of Izmail on September 18 with a destination of Ravenna, Italy, before fire broke out on board. The vessel is described as Turkish.

The reported attack took place outside Romania's territorial waters, but Romanian authorities are leading the rescue effort because of the ship's proximity to the coast. Rescue craft were dispatched to waters near the Pescarus oil platform, where the operation is concentrated.

No further details on the condition of the missing sailors or the extent of the damage to the vessel were immediately available. The circumstances of the reported drone strike have not been independently confirmed.