What happened

Bulgarian authorities said aerial and maritime drones attacked the Palau-flagged general-cargo vessel ABLE, IMO 9001136, in Bulgaria's exclusive economic zone at about 03:00. The wheat-carrying vessel caught fire. A Bulgarian vessel evacuated all 18 crew members, reported as 11 Turkish and seven Indian nationals; two sailors were seriously injured. Later local reporting described one hospitalized engineer as stable but in serious condition. EFE reported that ABLE remained afloat and drifting and might sink, but the vessel's final status, structural or cargo damage and pollution impact remained unresolved. Bulgaria did not attribute responsibility and said the drones' origin remained under investigation. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy attributed the combined attack on ABLE and ALFA WATAN to Russia after saying Ukrainian forces had not operated in the area; that attribution was not independently confirmed in the reviewed reporting, and Russia had not responded. The marker is offset from ALFA WATAN for map legibility and is not an impact coordinate.

When cited sources give different casualty, damage or spill figures for this event, they’re reported side by side above rather than merged into one number. See how confidence levels work.