Two ships hit, no Black Sea escort

Search crews off Bulgaria's coast were still looking on Tuesday night for 11 sailors from the HS Dignity, a cargo ship sunk by a drone strike in the early hours. Bulgaria's latest tally put its crew at 16, with five rescued (BTA). It was the second ship sunk by drones near Bulgaria in a week, and the coastal governments have talked about protecting shipping without announcing any patrol or escort.

Two ships, one night

The first distress call came from the Chelsea 3, a Malta-flagged ship hit about 16 nautical miles off the town of Byala. A Bulgarian border police boat took off all 15 crew (Bulgarian Interior Ministry, BTA). Malta's foreign minister, Chris Fearne, said four were mildly injured and called for safe passage (Chris Fearne).

The HS Dignity, flagged in Guinea-Bissau, sank. Two passing merchant ships picked up the survivors (NOVA). Bulgaria's defence minister had earlier given different numbers, six saved and ten missing, and no official account has reconciled the two (BNR).

On 6 October drones sank the Alfa Watan near Bulgaria, and Sofia later called off the search for its crew (BNT). That attack first pushed Bulgaria to seek talks with its neighbours (To Brief).

Talks, but no escort

After Tuesday's sinking, Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev and his Romanian counterpart, Ilie Bolojan, agreed in principle to work more closely on safe navigation (Radio România). They want Türkiye in that effort. The published accounts record no Turkish commitment yet.

Bulgaria's defence minister phoned his Romanian and Turkish counterparts and, by his ministry's account, pressed for joint surveillance and intelligence sharing with NATO (BTA). None of the readouts names a patrol ship, an escort route or a start date.

The three navies already run one joint mission: a naval group built to find and clear sea mines, on a scheduled deployment from 6 to 20 October (Romanian Navy). In July its job widened to guarding infrastructure on the seabed, but not to escorting merchant ships or stopping drones (Romanian defence ministry). Its presence gives cargo crews no protection from the threat now sinking them.

Geography explains why the coastal states matter most. Türkiye controls the straits into the Black Sea, and under the Montreux Convention (the treaty governing those straits) warships from countries without a Black Sea coast may stay no more than 21 days (Turkish foreign ministry). Distant allies could rotate ships through, but they cannot keep a fleet there indefinitely.

NATO and the EU work through different channels, and neither has moved ships. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said the alliance would keep watching and adjust if needed, announcing no deployment (BNT). António Costa, who chairs the European Council (the summit of EU leaders), put the attacks on the agenda for its 15–16 October meeting (European Council). That summit can pressure governments, but it commands no warships. Those belong to national governments, which can send them alone or agree through NATO to act together.

The European stake is concrete. The Chelsea 3 flies the flag of an EU member, and tracking data showed the HS Dignity heading for Brăila, a Romanian port on the Danube that carries trade into the continent's interior (Reuters).

Who sent the drones

Radev said Bulgaria had no solid evidence to accuse anyone, while arguing that the outcome served Russia, and summoned Moscow's ambassador, Eleonora Mitrofanova (Bulgarian government). She said she had no information from Russia's defence ministry and suggested, without offering proof, that a third party might be provoking a crisis.

Investigators have little to work with. No drone wreckage was recovered after the earlier strikes, and on 12 October Bulgaria asked the EU and NATO for technical help tracing where the drones came from (Bulgarian government).

Judged by their public statements, Sofia, Bucharest and Ankara have discussed protecting shipping but announced no escort plan, and the only joint naval mission in the area is built for mines. Until one of them announces more, crews bound for the Danube sail unprotected through the waters where the HS Dignity's missing sailors are still being sought.