ROMANIAN officials have reported a complex rescue operation in the Black Sea while also condemning the attacks on civilian ships.
It reported that a total of 11 seafarers were saved from a Turkish vessel carrying grain that later sank and that it retrieved the bodies of two other crew members who died in the attack.
ARSVOM (the Romanian Agency for Rescue of Human Life at Sea) identified the vessel as the Turkish-owned cargo ship Royad Mammadov (6933 dwt).
Built in 2006 and registered in St Kitts and Nevis, the ship had a crew of 13 aboard when it issued a distress call at 10.37am (Romanian time) on October 5.
The crew were reported to be Turkish and Azerbaijani citizens.
Romanian authorities emphasised that the vessel was in their EEZ, approximately 20 miles offshore and near their offshore oil platforms.
They are not reporting the circumstances of the attack, but Ukraine asserts the vessel was struck by two drones.
ARSVOM sent rescue vessels and was joined by the deployment of military helicopters and the border police.
The authorities reported that several injured crew members were hoisted to the helicopter for transfer to shore.
Ukrainian reports say the vessel had loaded a cargo of corn in Izmail and was bound for Italy when it was struck.
They said the captain had been killed, and one other seafarer was missing, while three were injured.
Romanian authorities later said the two deceased individuals had been identified without providing details.
