Bulgarian authorities have ended the search for 12 Syrian sailors missing from a merchant ship that sank after a drone attack in the Black Sea.
Vice-Admiral Rumen Nikolov of Bulgaria’s Maritime Administration Executive Agency announced the decision on the event date of October 7, 2026. The vessel went down about 70 nautical miles, or 130 kilometers, from Bulgaria’s coast after two merchant ships were struck early the previous day.
The second ship was damaged and its crew was rescued. Search teams found a boat, three life rafts and pieces of ship equipment from the sunken vessel, but no trace of its crew. Nikolov said the operation would not resume.
The incident occurred in Bulgaria’s designated search-and-rescue area, not its territorial waters, which extend 12 nautical miles from the coast. The attack involved aerial and maritime drones near the eastern coastal town of Byala, according to the supplied Reuters report.
Responsibility remains unresolved. Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev said the cargo and direction of travel could point toward Russia, but stressed that Bulgaria lacked evidence sufficient to make that accusation. Russia’s embassy in Sofia said the merchant vessel was not among the targets of Russian drone operations that day.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said an investigation conducted with Bulgaria’s navy had established Russian responsibility. Radev denied that Bulgaria was conducting a joint investigation with Ukraine. Those conflicting public claims underscore the absence of a settled attribution, and none should be treated as proven on the evidence available.
The strike has heightened concern about the safety of commercial shipping in a sea bordered by NATO members as well as Russia and Ukraine. Bulgarian President Iliana Iotova said Sofia would invite Turkey and Romania to consultations about protecting merchant vessels in the region.
Bulgaria may also seek additional NATO assistance, including air and maritime surveillance and counter-drone equipment for coastal defense. Radev said his government would approve the acquisition of five more surface-to-air missile systems following the attack.
The missing sailors are the immediate human cost of a security environment in which civilian shipping can be exposed to weapons whose operators are difficult to identify quickly. Ending the search closes the active rescue phase, but leaves both the fate of the crew and the identity of those responsible unresolved.
Any subsequent attribution will require evidence from debris, tracking data, intelligence or a formal investigation. Bulgarian officials said no drone remnants had been found when the search was halted.
