Attacks on three ships raise fears of escalation and further widening of the ongoing conflict in the Black Sea region. Yesterday Romania's Ministry of the Interior has announced that a accident involved the miscellaneous cargo ship Royad Mammadov, flying the flag of Saint Kitts and Nevis, which carried cereals from Ukraine (Izmail) to Italy (Ravenna), and caused the death of of two crew members, while 11 seafarers were taken rescued by a helicopter of the General Inspectorate of Aviation of Romania. The ministry explained that the Coast Guard is was informed by the Maritime Coordination Centre in Constance (MRCC) of a fire that broke out on board the ship located in the Romania's Exclusive Economic Zone, approximately 30 nautical miles away south of the town of Sfântul Gheorghe. The Royad Mammadov, badly damaged, sank.

Today, however, it was the Alfa Watan ships that were hit and Able, flying the flags of Togo and Able respectively, Palau. The first ship, with a deadweight capacity of about 3,160 tons, suffered serious damage and sank. The Dioscuria ferry of the Georgian company E60 Shipping Line, which would have observed explosion and reached the accident area to assist the seafarers in danger, would have found several means of rescue and life jackets, but no members of the crew.

The attack on the Able, with a deadweight capacity of over 7,400 tons, caused a fire that forced the abandonment of the unit all 18 crew members, who were rescued by the Dioscuria. Two seafarers from Able were seriously injured, they received the first dressings on board of the ferry and were then transferred ashore to receive medical assistance.

The Bulgarian Prime Minister, Rumen Radev, denounced the attacks that - he underlined - constitute a violation of the international law and maritime law and which have taken place - specified - in the exclusive economic zone in the Black Sea of the nation. Radev said the attacks were carried out with the use of aerial and maritime drones and about 70 miles east of the Bulgarian resort of Byala

The succession of accidents seems to show a shift of the incidents towards the western sector of the Black Sea, along the routes used by commercial ships heading to ports Ukrainians of the Danube and towards the maritime corridor connecting the area to the rest of the Mediterranean. In addition, the accident represents A further leap in the risks for navigation Black Sea: it is no longer just a question of the possibility of merchant ships suffering indirect damage during attacks against port infrastructure or targets but of ships directly hit on the open sea within the EEZs of NATO Member States.