Overview
- Three maritime drones struck the Liberian-flagged container ship Contship Jet about 21 nautical miles southeast of Shabla, Bulgaria, forcing all 18 crew to abandon ship and the vessel to sink overnight.
- The Contship Jet was carrying 421 containers on a Haifa-to-Constanța voyage and some boxes held hazardous materials such as lithium-ion batteries, flammable liquids and corrosive acids; initial naval checks found no visible pollution.
- Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey condemned the strike and agreed at trilateral talks to expand maritime surveillance, share intelligence faster and deploy forensic teams to gather evidence and protect commercial routes.
- Western and regional officials have broadly pointed suspicion at Russia because of the wider pattern of attacks, but no public, conclusive attribution has been presented and Moscow denies responsibility.
- The sinking is the latest in a series of at least five to six drone attacks in the western Black Sea this month that have disrupted shipping, left dozens of seafarers missing or feared dead and raised the risk of longer-term changes to trade routes and naval posture.