Two Dead as Drone Strike Sinks Corn Ship Near Romania

Two crew members died after a cargo ship carrying Ukrainian corn caught fire and sank in the Black Sea on Monday. Ukraine blames two Russian drones.
The Royad Mammadov, a 139-metre ship flagged to Saint Kitts and Nevis and owned by a Turkish company, was sailing from the Ukrainian Danube port of Izmail to Ravenna, Italy. The fire broke out about 30 nautical miles south of Sfantu Gheorghe, inside Romania’s exclusive economic zone.
Romania’s coast guard was alerted around 11 am local time. Eleven crew were rescued, some by helicopter, and two bodies were recovered. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the captain was among the dead. India’s embassy said three Indian sailors were aboard; one injured sailor was treated in Constanta.
Zelenskyy called it “a horrific strike by two Russian drones on a civilian vessel in neutral waters.” Romanian officials confirmed the fire, the sinking and the rescue but did not name a cause. Russia said it struck two ships carrying military equipment that day but did not mention the Royad Mammadov.
The attack has rattled shipping. London’s Joint War Committee has now classed almost the entire Black Sea as high-risk, raising insurance costs for grain trade.
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