Seven sailors missing after tanker fire off Romania's coast amid Russian drone fears

Teams are searching for seven sailors missing after fire broke out on a chemical tanker inside Romanian territorial waters in the Black Sea.The vessel was one of two tankers that caught fire overnight, Romanian officials said, after Russian drones strayed into Romanian airspace.The officials did not explicitly link the fires onboard the ships to the Russian drones.The incidents follow drone strikes on at least five other cargo ships near the coasts of Romania and neighbouring fellow NATO member Bulgaria over the past 10 days.At least 23 sailors were lost from those strikes.Those earlier strikes, unlike the latest incidents, took place just outside NATO's territorial waters.Both ships hit overnight were anchored in the Black Sea near the mouth of the canal leading into the Danube River.The canal is a major shipping route used by Ukraine as Russia has attacked Ukraine's own Black Sea ports.Romania's naval authority said it received an emergency alert from the San Marino-flagged tanker Wine Trader.Seven of its 12 crew were missing and 5 were rescued.A screengrab from an aerial footage shows San Marino-flagged tanker wine trader ship that caught fire in Romanian territorial waters, released October 15, 2026 (Romanian Interior Ministry)The interior ministry said it had sent two Black Hawk helicopters to the search and rescue mission, as well as two ships with medical staff on board."At the moment, ‌the rescue cannot be done safely because of very big waves," it said in a statement.The Comoros-flagged chemical and oil tanker Yara J also caught fire late on Wednesday.A view of a vessel during a rescue operation following a fire outside Romania's territorial waters, in which two people died and others were rescued, in this screengrab obtained from a handout video released on October 5, 2026 (Romanian Interior Ministry)Romanian authorities initially said it was not clear whether it had been attacked.All its crew were safe.Both Wine Trader and Yara J caught fire near the mouth of the Danube River's Sulina Canal leading to the Black Sea.Ships often anchor there waiting to pass because of delays from weather and congestion.Romania shares a 614-km (381-mile) border with Ukraine, much of it along the Danube.It has reported repeated breaches of its airspace by Russian drones over the past four years.Increasing attacks on Black Sea shipping connected with the Russia-Ukraine war in recent months have threatened to cause a global food crisis.Both countries are major exporters of grain, as is Romania."We're looking at the Black Sea as a global food artery," Romanian Foreign Minister Oana Toiu told a security conference in Warsaw earlier this week."It is currently, unfortunately, the deadliest ‌sea when it comes to the number of casualties ⁠of sailors in the last months. That means we need to increase our investments in deterrence, defence."