Grain carrier Royad Mammadov, sailing from Ukraine to Italy, catches fire and sinks in Romania’s Black Sea exclusive economic zone; 11 crew members rescued.
A cargo ship carrying Ukrainian corn sank in Romania’s exclusive economic zone in the Black Sea on Monday after a fire broke out on board, killing two crew members and prompting a major rescue operation that saved 11 others.
The vessel, the Royad Mammadov, was a Turkish-owned general cargo ship sailing under the flag of Saint Kitts and Nevis. It had departed the Ukrainian Danube port of Izmail bound for Ravenna, Italy, when the incident occurred roughly 20 to 30 nautical miles off the Romanian coast, south of the settlement of Sfântu Gheorghe and near the Pescăruș offshore oil platform operated by OMV Petrom.
Two Killed as Ship Sinks in Black Sea:
Romanian authorities said the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre in Constanța received a distress call around 11:00 local time (08:00 GMT). A fire had broken out on the 139-metre vessel outside Romania’s territorial waters but within its exclusive economic zone. The ship later sank. Eleven crew members were rescued, some of them injured and evacuated by helicopter, while the bodies of two deceased seafarers were recovered.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy attributed the incident to a strike by two Russian drones on a civilian vessel in neutral waters. “A horrific strike by two Russian drones on a civilian vessel in neutral waters carrying corn and owned by Turkiye,” he wrote on social media, noting that Azerbaijani and Indian nationals were among those on board and confirming that the ship’s captain was among the dead.
Romanian officials confirmed the fire, the sinking, the two fatalities and the successful rescue of the remaining crew but did not publicly attribute a cause for the blaze. Local media had earlier reported a suspected drone strike in the area. Russian authorities had no immediate specific comment on the Royad Mammadov incident, though Moscow has previously acknowledged striking commercial vessels in the Black Sea as part of its military operations related to the war in Ukraine.
Black Sea Shipping Risks Rise:
The Black Sea has become an increasingly hazardous corridor for commercial shipping since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Grain exports from Ukrainian ports, critical for global food security, have repeatedly faced threats from mines, missiles and drones. The location of Monday’s incident, relatively close to Romanian energy infrastructure and outside the immediate Ukrainian coastline, has heightened concerns about the expanding geographic reach of such attacks and the risks to civilian maritime traffic and NATO-adjacent waters.
Romanian rescue vessels and a helicopter from the General Aviation Inspectorate took part in the operation. Three of the survivors were reported injured, while the others were said to be in good condition. The full identities of the victims and further details on the investigation have not yet been released by Romanian authorities.
The sinking of the Royad Mammadov is the latest reminder of the human and economic costs of the prolonged conflict spilling into international shipping lanes. Ukraine has repeatedly called for stronger measures to protect civilian vessels in the Black Sea, while the incident is likely to intensify diplomatic discussions among Black Sea states about maritime security.