Romania probes cause of Black Sea cargo ship sinking

A merchant ship caught fire ​and sank off the coast ​of Romania in the ‌Black ​Sea on Thursday evening, likely after being hit, Romanian President Nicusor Dan and authorities said. The Romanian ‌Border Police on Friday confirmed the fire on board a commercial ship sailing through Romania's exclusive economic zone, but did not provide a ‌cause.

Black Sea shipping and port facilities have been targeted repeatedly since ‌Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in 2022, with the pace of attacks escalating in 2026. "The ship was hit... it seems to have sunk," Dan ⁠told journalists ​during a news ⁠conference in Chisinau, Moldova, on Thursday, adding that at present no information was ⁠available as to who might have been involved in a possible strike.

"There ​will be an investigation, it will be established, but it is ⁠not good for us to start speculating," the president said. The event had taken ⁠place ​outside Romania's territorial waters, he said. All 12 people on board the merchant ship had been rescued, the Romanian Border Police ⁠said in a statement.

"Of these, 10 people were rescued by the ⁠border guards, ⁠one of them being injured, and two others were rescued by the crew of the merchant ship," they ‌said.