Developing: Seven missing after two tankers burn off Romania
Five people were rescued from the Wine Trader, while the crew of a second tanker were reported safe. Romania is investigating the fires near a key entrance to the Danube.
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Oct 15, 22:00 UTC ·
735 words
Seven crew members were missing after two chemical tankers caught fire off Romania, prompting a search in heavy seas and the president's statement that drones struck both vessels. [1][2][3]
The San Marino-flagged Wine Trader reported blasts and a fire on the morning of October 15, 2026. Five of its 12 crew were rescued. The Comoros-flagged Yara J, a chemical and oil tanker, had caught fire late on October 14, and all its crew were reported safe. [1][2][3]
Both incidents occurred near the mouth of the Sulina Canal, an entrance from the Black Sea to the Danube. The route matters to Ukrainian shipping as Russian attacks put pressure on Ukraine's Black Sea ports. Romania is a NATO member, making the circumstances of the fires a security issue for the alliance as well as a maritime emergency. [1][2][3]
Romanian President Nicușor Dan said both ships had been struck by drones. "We want to have all the information about what happened, but there will be a response from the Romanian state," he said. An unnamed NATO military source told MarineLink that the drones responsible for the fires were Russian. [2][3]
Those accounts have not yet been established by the investigation. The Associated Press reported that military radar had detected no drone heading toward the Yara J and that the cause of the Wine Trader fire was not immediately clear. Russian drones were reported in Romanian airspace and near Ukraine's Snake Island, but no connection between those sightings and either tanker incident has been established. [1][2]
Search hampered by waves
Romanian authorities sent two Black Hawk helicopters and rescue boats to search for the missing Wine Trader crew. Authorities said very high waves made rescue work unsafe at that time. The search was continuing, with seven people still unaccounted for. [2][3]
The rescue of five crew members leaves more than half of the Wine Trader's crew missing. [1][2][3]
There are conflicting accounts of exactly where the Wine Trader was. DW placed both fires in Romanian territorial waters. MarineLink's Reuters-based account put the Wine Trader 13 nautical miles southeast of Sulina, one nautical mile outside Romanian waters. The Yara J was reported inside Romanian waters. [1][3]
Romania's acting defense minister, Radu Miruță, said an investigation was under way. [1]
The tankers were near a place where ships may anchor while waiting for weather to improve or congestion to ease before entering the canal. A fire there puts a vessel in difficulty close to a working entrance to the Danube, rather than on an isolated stretch of open sea. [1][3]
A claim of Russian responsibility
Dan's statement puts the drone-strike account on the public record at the highest level of the Romanian state. The separate attribution to Russia comes from an unnamed NATO military source, as reported by MarineLink. It is an attribution by that source, rather than a published finding by Romanian investigators. [2][3]
Moscow said two cargo ships carrying military cargo and heading for Ukraine's port of Odesa had been hit. It did not name the vessels, so its statement cannot be treated as identification of the Wine Trader or the Yara J. [2]
Russia says it is targeting ships carrying military or dual-use cargo to Ukraine, meaning goods that can serve civilian or military purposes. Ukraine and European allies say civilian merchant vessels, including grain ships, are being attacked. Neither position establishes what these two tankers were carrying or how their fires began. [2]
MarineLink also reported that NATO said two other vessels were targeted overnight: a Marshall Islands-flagged bulk carrier inside Romanian waters and a Tanzanian-flagged tanker moored at Ukraine's Danube port of Izmail. Casualty details for those vessels were not given. [3]
Pressure on the Danube route
Romania has reported repeated incursions by Russian drones since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The Danube and nearby ports have become important routes for Ukrainian shipping as attacks have affected the country's Black Sea ports. [1][3]
The tanker fires add to a recent series of emergencies involving commercial vessels in the western Black Sea, close to Romania and Bulgaria, both NATO members. DW reported that at least five other cargo ships had been hit in the preceding 10 days and at least 23 sailors lost, without giving a case-by-case breakdown. [1][2]
Dan was due to meet NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and Bulgaria's prime minister to discuss Black Sea security. Romanian investigators must establish what happened to the tankers, while rescue teams continue the search for the seven missing crew members. [1][2][3]
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