Drone attacks oil tanker in Romanian waters for the first time, likely heading to Ukraine

In Romanian territorial waters, a drone attacked the Comoros-flagged oil tanker YARA J, which was presumably heading to Ukraine.

This is reported by Radio Romania Constanța.

The incident occurred on the evening of Wednesday, October 14, near the town of Sulina. The empty ship was en route from Turkey and was due to load at a Danube port. After the attack, a fire broke out there.

There were 17 sailors on board from Syria, India and Iran. They were not injured.

The Romanian Defense Ministry reported that a group of air targets were detected over the Black Sea that evening — two of them flew into the countryʼs airspace. Later, radar contact with one target was lost over the sea. It is not excluded that this drone hit the tanker.

This is the first time a drone has hit a ship directly in Romanian territorial waters. Previously, similar incidents had only been recorded in the exclusive economic zone.

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