Bulgaria has called off the search for the crew of a vessel that sank after being struck by a drone roughly 70 nautical miles (130 kilometres) off its coast, Vice‑Admiral Rumen Nikolov of the Maritime Administration Executive Agency said on Wednesday.
The announcement that the search had been suspended was reported by MarineLink Maritime News on 7 October 2026, which cited Vice‑Admiral Nikolov’s remarks to Nova TV.
The incident
According to the report, the ship was hit by a drone early on Tuesday, 6 October 2026, and sank at sea about 70 nautical miles, or roughly 130 kilometres, from the Bulgarian coastline. The account assembled in the report does not supply the vessel’s name, type or flag, and offers no published detail on the number or nationality of the crew who were aboard when the strike occurred.
The source states plainly that the strike preceded the sinking, and that search operations were carried out in the immediate aftermath before being discontinued. The report does not record any additional operational specifics such as the duration of the search, assets deployed or conditions at the time.
Authorities and reporting
Vice‑Admiral Rumen Nikolov, speaking in his capacity with the Maritime Administration Executive Agency, communicated the decision to halt the search in remarks made to Nova TV and relayed in the MarineLink item dated 7 October 2026. The Maritime Administration Executive Agency is identified in the report as the agency providing the information.
The published item gives no further comment attributed to other Bulgarian ministries, international bodies or the vessel’s owners, and it does not include an account from survivors or witnesses. At the time of the report, no additional official statements or follow‑up details were recorded in the same item.
The MarineLink report is terse in its factual record: it sets out the chain of events, a drone strike, a subsequent sinking and the suspension of search efforts, without extending into analysis or identification of those responsible for the attack. That limited public detail leaves key questions unanswered in the immediate term.
The suspension of a search for missing seafarers is a rare and grave decision that is typically taken only after a formal assessment of likelihood of survival and available evidence; the MarineLink account does not describe the criteria or findings that informed the Bulgarian authorities’ choice in this case. The report also does not describe any recovery of wreckage, bodies or personal effects.
The episode, as recorded in the report, will be of interest to regional maritime stakeholders and to insurers and flag states with vessels operating in the Black Sea; however, the MarineLink item contains no contemporaneous reporting of reactions from those parties. The report confines itself to the factual sequence presented by the Maritime Administration Executive Agency.
Further information may yet emerge from official Bulgarian channels, investigation teams or subsequent media coverage, but the MarineLink item dated 7 October 2026 is the immediate published account of the strike, the sinking and the decision to halt search operations. For now, the published facts remain limited to the timing, the location at sea and the authority that announced the suspension of search efforts.
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