ED Shipping Parks 19 Vessels as Black Sea Drone Attacks Mount

Turkey-based ED Shipping has parked 19 of its 26 vessels and is losing millions of dollars each month, chief financial officer Demre İşcen said, after a wave of sea drone strikes in the Black Sea pushed much of the corridor's traffic to a standstill. At least 31 seafarers have been killed or are missing. Maritime analysts count nearly 50 commercial ships attacked this month.

The violence has drawn in NATO allies. Patrol boats and radar have been deployed to the region. Attacks have clustered in the western Black Sea near Bulgaria and Romania. Ambrey, a maritime risk firm, recorded more than 500 attacks on commercial vessels this year in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. The firm attributes 40 of the 45 attacks recorded in October to Russia. Russia's Ministry of Defence has acknowledged striking dozens of ships this month and said they supported Ukraine's military.

On Oct. 13 at 1:30 a.m., the cargo ship HS Dignity was rolling in heavy swells after a sea drone struck its hull. The 16 crew members, Syrian and Egyptian nationals, were ordered to abandon the 123-metre ship. Chief officer Ashraf Mamdouh, 42, said the crew first believed an approaching boat was a rescue vessel, then saw it had no one at the controls. "We realized that this boat was also part of the group that was attacking us. Of course, we all ran," he said. The drone rammed the ship. "We didn't have time to finish launching the lifeboats," he said.

Mamdouh urged swimmers to clear the sinking vessel, but strong winds drowned out voices and currents pulled people apart. A life raft drifted to him and he lay in it for four hours before the Azov Concord appeared. He is one of five survivors. Eleven are missing, among them 18-year-old Hamza Suleiman, a Syrian on his first voyage. His father, Basel, said the young man called on Oct. 12 to say, "Dad, we're in Bulgaria now." Suleiman had wanted to work in the engine room but was assigned to the deck after the Alfa Watan was struck by drones on Oct. 6. Ten crew members from that ship, mostly Syrian, have not been recovered.

Khaldoun Nabelsi, head of the Syrian Seafarers Association of the U.K., has counted at least 18 Syrian seafarers killed. "Nobody is forced to take these jobs, but in other ways you are forced. If you want to work, you have to go," he said. The Philippine government has barred its citizens from boarding vessels in the northern Black Sea. ED Shipping's vessel Circon was hit on June 5 in the Sea of Azov, killing two crew members.

A search-and-rescue operation was underway Friday for a Comoros-flagged ship hit by drones outside Romanian territorial waters. One body has been recovered and three of its 13 crew remain missing. Romanian President Nicușor Dan blamed Russia. Mamdouh and his surviving crewmates are waiting in Bulgaria for new documents to fly home. "I will not go back to the Black Sea again. Never," he said.

NATO maritime security operations in the region are continuing.