Video: Border guards evacuated eight sailors from a ship that Russia attacked near the mouth of the Danube
A crew from the Maritime Guard of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine evacuated eight people from a cargo ship that Russian forces attacked with strike drones as it was leaving the mouth of the Danube. The vessel, flying the Palau flag, was en route from a Ukrainian port to Greece.
According to border guards, on July 25, a Russian Shahed-type attack drone struck the civilian vessel, which had nine crew members and a Ukrainian pilot on board.
After the first strike, Russian forces launched a second drone attack. The attack caused a massive fire on the vessel.
The crew of a Coast Guard boat responded promptly to the distress signal. Border guards evacuated eight people—the crew members and the pilot—from the burning vessel and transported them to a safe location, where the victims received the necessary medical care.
The State Border Guard Service noted that after the first explosion, two sailors ended up in the water. A search-and-rescue operation was underway at the time of the evacuation.
Dmytro Pletenchuk, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian Navy, reported that as of the morning of July 26, there was no official information regarding the fate of the two missing sailors.
This was reported by the State Border Guard Service’s Maritime Guard.
As a reminder, on July 25, Russian forces twice attacked a civilian vessel flying the Palau flag as it was leaving a port in the Odesa region. The vessel was carrying corn; as a result of the attacks, two crew members went missing, while seven other sailors and a Ukrainian pilot were rescued.
The commercial vessel Christiana B, which was en route from the United States to Ukraine, sustained damage in the Black Sea off the coast of Romania. According to preliminary data, the cause may have been a sea mine explosion or an attack by a maritime drone.
