SOFIA, Bulgaria — Bulgaria expects to join a NATO anti-drone initiative by Oct. 30, Defence Minister Dimitar Stoyanov said Wednesday, a day after a drone attack sank a cargo ship off its Black Sea coast.
Stoyanov told a parliamentary hearing that Bulgaria would join as soon as possible, according to Reuters.
“Expectations are that by October 30, we will already be part of the project”
Two cargo ships were hit on Oct. 13, Reuters reported. It was the second sinking of a vessel off Bulgaria in a week, after drones struck two other ships in the same waters on Oct. 6.
Bulgaria’s Ministry of Transport and Communications gave a timeline of the Oct. 13 attacks in a statement reported by Radio Bulgaria.
The Maltese-flagged Chelsea-3, with a crew of 15, was attacked at 1:15 a.m., 17 nautical miles east of Byala, the ministry said. All 15 crew members were rescued.
The Guinea-Bissau-flagged HS Dignity was struck at 1:20 a.m. and sank 17 nautical miles east of Shabla, according to the ministry. Five of its 16 crew members survived.
Reuters reported that 11 sailors from HS Dignity remained missing. The transport ministry said the search for them resumed Wednesday after bad weather and darkness forced a suspension Tuesday evening.
Bulgaria summoned Russia’s ambassador after the attacks. Sofia has not explicitly accused Russia of carrying them out.
Prime Minister Rumen Radev said Tuesday that the outcome of the attacks “benefits the Russian Federation,” Reuters reported.
Russia’s ambassador to Sofia, Eleonora Mitrofanova, said she had no information from the Russian Defence Ministry about attacks on commercial vessels, according to Bulgaria’s government. She did not rule out a third-party provocation.
No authority in the reporting has established who launched the drones.
