Romanian President Nicușor Dan accused Russia of escalating its attacks on NATO's eastern flank on Friday, after a drone strike sank a cargo ship off the Romanian Black Sea coast, killing at least one sailor with three still missing, Reuters reports.
Video released by Romanian authorities showed only a small part of the hull of the capsized tanker still visible above the waves as it sank. Emergency vessels were searching the surrounding waters for survivors in choppy seas and high wind.
Romania's naval authority said the Comoros-flagged Khoryv, with a crew of 13 Ukrainian and Azeri sailors, had sent a distress signal 13 nautical miles off Romania's port of Constanta, just beyond Romanian territorial waters. Nine sailors were rescued from the water, three were missing and one body was recovered.
The past two weeks have seen a sudden surge in deadly attacks on commercial ships off the coasts of NATO members Romania and Bulgaria, with at least seven cargo ships hit and some 30 sailors reported dead or missing.
"It is part of Russia's escalation process in its war in Ukraine," President Dan told reporters, later saying the ship had been hit by a drone.
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