Seven Missing After a Drone Attack Sets a Tanker Ablaze Off Romania
Seven of twelve crew are unaccounted for from the San Marino-flagged Wine Trader, which reported explosions and fire thirteen nautical miles east of the mouth of the Danube this morning. Romania’s president said a second chemical tanker had also been struck. Moscow said it had hit two cargo ships carrying military cargo bound for Odesa. Romania and Bulgaria are weighing whether to invoke Article 4.
Article 4 of the North Atlantic Treaty lets any member call for consultations when it believes its security is threatened; it has been invoked only a handful of times and is the step below the collective-defence clause. Two governments considering it together is the significant part. The rescue is difficult: four crew are confirmed alive, two Black Hawk helicopters and two rescue boats are deployed, and very high waves are reported. The vessel was empty of cargo and sailing from Tunisia to Romania when it reported blasts at about 07:00 local time. This is not isolated. On Tuesday two merchant ships were struck further south off Bulgaria and one sank, leaving eleven crew missing; Sofia said it suspected Russia and summoned its envoy. A swarm of Russian drones was detected overnight near Ukraine’s Snake Island, not far from the scene. The western Black Sea has become a second front in the shipping war, and this stretch of it is NATO water.