No one can yet say whether the drone-damaged ship “Able” will sink, Bulgarian Navy Commander Rear Admiral Kiril Mihaylov said at a briefing on Friday.
On October 6, two commercial vessels came under attack from aerial and sea drones in Bulgaria’s exclusive economic zone in the Black Sea, approximately 70 nautical miles east of Byala. The Togo-flagged Alfa Watan sank, and none of its crew members were found during the subsequent rescue operation. The second vessel, the Palau-flagged Able, was damaged and caught fire. All 18 crew members were rescued, while two injured sailors were taken to Varna for medical treatment.
Mihaylov said the vessel was down by the stern after taking on water through a breach in its aft section. “I assume the engine room is partially flooded,” he said. The ship appeared stable, based on external inspections carried out by the Navy on Thursday and Friday, he added.
There was no spill around the vessel, he said. A Bulgarian Navy ship was at the scene, monitoring the situation and surveying the area.
Members of the team that inspected Able said on Friday that the vessel had suffered extensive fire damage. The 24th Air Base’s Deputy Commander Lieutenant Colonel Plamen Donchev said the mission was to put two servicemen aboard the ship to inspect it. They spent about 30 minutes on board, he said. The inspection found no drone debris and extensive fire damage.
Senior Sergeant Ivan Katsarov, a senior parachute rescuer, said the team had been tasked with searching for drone debris, collecting any fragments and photographing them. “No debris was found. Everything on the ship was burned. We went inside and also checked the cargo. It was wheat. That is what we were able to establish,” Katsarov said.
Search-and-rescue unit specialist Velislav Yurukov said the entire inspection had been recorded. “The consequences of the fire are very serious. It was an extremely intense fire. We could also see that the crew had used the emergency and lifesaving equipment available on board to evacuate and save themselves,” Yurukov said, adding that no drone remains or other relevant debris had been found aboard.
Mihaylov said the Navy was also monitoring another abandoned merchant vessel farther north, with no crew aboard. “The ship is 40 miles east of our coast, so at this stage what we are doing is making sure where the vessels are and what condition they are in. As you know, they are in international waters,” he said.
Asked whether the Navy needed to review its preparedness following the incidents, Mihaylov said it did not. “We train constantly for such tasks and are now carrying them out in practice,” he said, adding that such scenarios were regularly included in naval exercises, including the Navy’s largest exercise, Breeze.
Security along Bulgaria’s coast had been adequately reinforced, but the war was being fought in the Black Sea, close to Bulgaria, Mihaylov said.
“We destroyed another drone 15 miles east of Sinemorets on Friday,” he said. Such devices would continue to appear as long as Ukraine and Russia exchanged drone strikes, he added. Some would fall into the sea, while winds and currents would inevitably carry some of them towards the Bulgarian coast.
Mihaylov also said the most recent sea mine found in the Black Sea had been discovered by Turkish authorities in late July.
Fate of Drone-Damaged Ship “Able” Remains Uncertain, Navy Commander Says 2026 THE NEWS FROM BULGARIA – NEWS AGENCY 2009-2025 2026-10-09 15:17:51
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