Dec 5 (Reuters) – Bulgaria’s maritime authorities, border police and navy, are carrying out a rescue of a vessel that entered the country’s territorial waters on Friday but the operation has been put on hold due to bad weather, the transport ministry said in a statement.
The vessel is identified as sanctioned tanker Kairos, which was hit in the Black Sea last week by a Ukrainian drone in Turkey’s Exclusive Economic Zone and its crew rescued after it was caught by fire.
Kairos was one of the two sanctioned tankers Ukrainian naval drones hit as they headed to a Russian port to load up with oil destined for foreign markets, as Kyiv tries to pile pressure on Russia’s vast oil industry. It suffered an explosion and caught fire while en route from Egypt to Russia, Turkey’s Transport Ministry has said.
It was spotted by the maritime control services earlier on Friday but did not respond to calls for contact. Following the contacts with passing ships and the Maritime Coordination Centre in Ankara, it was confirmed there were 10 people on board, who later sent a request for evacuation, the ministry said.
The border police and a navy helicopter were sent to help but the ship anchored about one nautical mile east of the resort village of Ahtopol and stopped its movement. It has been under constant surveillance because of strong winds.
The ministry said that the border police specialised team was ready to sail to the ship and two air-tractors prepared to join the operation as soon as the weather stabilises.
On Tuesday, another Russian-flagged tanker loaded with sunflower oil reported a drone attack off the Turkish coast but its 13 crew members were unharmed.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Wednesday said the “very scary” attacks on Russia-linked tankers in the Black Sea threatened the safety of all in the region and showed the reach of the war in Ukraine was expanding.
(Reporting by Stoyan Nenov, writing by Daria Sito-Sucic;)
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