Alfa Watan sinking, Oct 6, 2026 - Bulgaria's Black Sea zone

Drones hit two cargo ships about 70 nautical miles east of Byala at about 03:00 local time on October 6, 2026, Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev said. That is 16 hours after Romania raised the alert for the Royad Mammadov and about 169 km from it, by AirVeto's measurement.

Drones hit two ships and the Alfa Watan sank almost at once

Radev said sea and air drones struck the ships, about 80 miles offshore in AP's wording. The Togo-flagged Alfa Watan, an 83-metre cargo ship per Yahoo News and built in 1975, suffered critical structural damage and sank where it was hit. Its last announced voyage ran from Al Arish in Egypt to Sulina in Romania, per Fakti.bg.

The Palau-flagged Able, carrying wheat and heading south, caught fire. Bulgaria's rescue chief said witnesses saw and heard a strong explosion and the Alfa Watan went down almost instantly. Novinite reported that initial accounts put the sinking at about three minutes.

No trace of the Alfa Watan's crew was found

The Bulgarian ferry Dioscuria saw the explosion and reached the scene. Its crew found an overturned lifeboat and life jackets, and rescuers later found three life rafts, but no sailors.

Vice Admiral Roumen Nikolov of the Maritime Administration said "there are no traces of the sailors of the first ship and probably there will be none." The search was suspended on October 6 at 17:00 and will not resume. Yahoo News, citing the Bulgarian authorities, counted 10 crew; Radev gave no number.

The Able's 18 crew were rescued, two with injuries

The Dioscuria took all 18 Able crew aboard, 11 Turkish and seven Indian nationals. Two were hurt, one with burns and one with a head injury, and were taken to hospital in Varna. A border police boat carried the other 16 ashore.

Bulgaria has not said whose drones they were

Radev called it an unacceptable strike in Bulgaria's exclusive economic zone and a violation of international law, per AP. The origin of the drones is under investigation. Nikolov declined to say whether they were Russian or Ukrainian.

Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelensky blamed Russia. This was the first strike on shipping in Bulgaria's economic zone, AP reported.

It came 16 hours after Romania's alert

Romania's Interior Ministry put the Coast Guard alert for the Royad Mammadov at about 11:00 on October 5, and Fakti.bg counted three ships hit in under 24 hours across the two zones. The page on the Royad Mammadov sinking covers the Romanian case.

London's Joint War Committee has widened the Black Sea high-risk zone by almost 2.4 times, to everything except the 12-mile territorial waters of Bulgaria, Romania, Türkiye and Georgia, Türkiye Today reported.

Wind conditions over the Black Sea site

At 02:00 local time on October 6, an hour before the reported strike, the wind at 80 m blew from the NNE at 2.1 km/h. At 2,000 m it came from the N at 20.5 km/h. At 3,000 m it came from the NNW at 17.2 km/h. Türkiye Today reported favorable weather at the scene, with visibility above 10 miles (16 km).

This reconstruction is based on reporting by AP, Kyiv Post, Novinite, Sofia Globe, Türkiye Today, Fakti.bg and Yahoo News, and AirVeto's wind-model data. The method is on the methodology page, and the NATO eastern flank hub places it among the alliance's other incidents.