Seven sailors remained missing on October 15 after fires aboard two tankers near Romania’s Black Sea coast, with President Nicușor Dan saying the vessels had been struck by drones. Five members of the Wine Trader’s 12-person crew were rescued, according to Romanian maritime authorities cited by the Associated Press. The emergency brought another search operation to the western Black Sea just two days after attacks on ships off neighboring Bulgaria.

Dan confirmed the strikes while speaking in Brussels but declined to identify the drones as Russian, Reuters reported. One of the affected ships, Yara J, was inside Romanian territorial waters; Wine Trader was just outside them. That distinction places the latest incidents directly alongside the maritime boundary of a U.S. NATO ally, rather than solely within the immediate Russian-Ukrainian war zone.

A rescue operation in rough seas

The San Marino-flagged Wine Trader reported its fire around 7 a.m. local time Thursday near Sulina, where a Danube navigation channel reaches the Black Sea. Early reports listed eight people missing; the Romanian Naval Authority subsequently put the count at seven missing and five rescued. Those seven people had not been confirmed dead. AFP reported that the tanker was carrying no cargo.

Romania dispatched vessels and two Black Hawk helicopters, but the Interior Ministry said high waves were obstructing safe rescue work. The changing survivor count reflected an operation still developing, not a final casualty assessment. The figures identify those found and those still unaccounted for; they do not establish the fate of the missing crew.

The Comoros-flagged Yara J had caught fire the previous evening. Defense Minister Radu Miruță initially said its crew extinguished the flames and investigators were checking whether a drone had hit it, according to Euronews. He said that vessel was also empty. Those earlier, cautious statements preceded Dan’s subsequent confirmation of drone strikes and should not be mistaken for a definitive finding that the fires were accidental.

Romania documents separate airspace incursions

Romania’s Defense Ministry published a sequence of radar accounts describing aerial activity on Wednesday evening and overnight. Its evening statement said two targets entered national airspace at 8:04 p.m. Radar contact with one was lost over the sea; the other left Romanian airspace and was subsequently destroyed by Ukrainian air defenses near Reni, the ministry said.

The ministry’s overnight release described a further drone entering national airspace southeast of Sulina at 1:34 a.m. and disappearing from radar roughly a minute later. Spanish F-18s conducting enhanced air policing were scrambled after targets were detected near Snake Island. Romanian F-16s were launched following additional detections farther east, and residents in parts of Tulcea County received an emergency alert.

An earlier bulletin also recorded an incursion above Romanian territorial waters on Wednesday afternoon, from 5:38 p.m. until 5:46 p.m. The ministry said Romanian F-16s were scrambled and residents were alerted during that episode.

These are the Romanian military’s accounts of its own surveillance and response. They establish what authorities say they tracked, but do not themselves identify which radar target struck which ship. The overnight release also said no further incursions were reported and that its air alert ended at 5:46 a.m.; that was not a declaration that the maritime rescue operation had ended.

NATO leaders discuss protection for shipping

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte met Dan and Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev in Brussels on Thursday to discuss Black Sea security and the shipping attacks. Rutte said the alliance had strengthened its eastern-flank posture, including counter-drone capabilities, and would adjust its deterrence and defense arrangements as necessary, the Sofia Globe reported. His comments described continued allied coordination, not a publicly specified new deployment for these particular vessels.

The meeting followed Romanian-Bulgarian discussions about stronger protection for commercial navigation. Dan had warned that the attacks endangered both regional shipping and agricultural supplies to other continents. That concern gives the incidents significance beyond the immediate rescue zone: the neighboring governments are seeking a coordinated security response, while responsibility for the latest strikes remains unresolved.

A new incident beyond the Bulgaria attacks

TAQ’s earlier coverage described the October 13 attacks off Bulgaria, where one ship sank and 11 sailors were reported missing. Thursday’s emergency involves different vessels near Romania and a separate group of missing crew. It is not a revised casualty count from that earlier sinking.

The immediate questions are whether rescuers can locate the missing sailors and what investigators can establish about the weapons and their origin. Confirmation that drones struck ships does not, by itself, establish who launched them. The distinction remains essential as Romania and its allies assess how to protect shipping while the rescue and investigation continue.