Romanian media reported Thursday that a sailor who was hurt when a tanker ship caught fire in the Black Sea off Romania’s coast has died, as officials look into a possible connection to Russia’s war against Ukraine.
The vessel, a Liberian-flagged tanker called the Gas Lisbon, was crossing the Black Sea en route to a Ukrainian port when it was “struck” late Monday, roughly 20 nautical miles from Romania’s coastline, according to Romanian President Nicusor Dan, who addressed the incident on Tuesday.
Romanian emergency crews reached the ship and pulled all 17 crew members to safety, including three who had been injured. Two of the injured sailors had burns covering around 10 to 15 percent of their bodies, while the third sustained multiple wounds, according to Romania’s Department for Emergency Situations.
By Thursday, the Romanian news outlet news.ro reported that one of the injured sailors — a 45-year-old citizen of the Philippines — had passed away.
The director of Tulcea County Hospital, Tudor-Ion Nastasescu, was quoted by the outlet as saying the sailor “had a burn of the airways and a pulmonary complication related to this burn that caused his death.”
Nastasescu also noted that the remaining two injured sailors, both Philippine nationals, are being treated in the hospital’s intensive care unit and are currently in stable condition.
The Gas Lisbon had set out from the Egyptian port of Alexandria and was bound for the Ukrainian port of Reni, located on the Danube River. The ship was transporting more than 3,790 tons of liquefied petroleum gas at the time of the incident.
Romania’s Department for Emergency Situations confirmed the event caused serious damage and sparked a fire in the ship’s upper structure. No official cause has been announced. President Dan stated that authorities would work to “clarify the circumstances, causes, and responsibilities” surrounding the event.
Romanian television network Digi24 aired interviews Tuesday with two crew members who said they believed the ship had been hit by multiple drones.
Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, drone incursions from both sides of the conflict have struck Romania and other NATO member nations on multiple occasions.
This past June, a Ukrainian maritime drone being used in combat operations detonated at the Black Sea port of Constanta, with three additional sea drones exploding just outside the port. No injuries were reported in that incident.
A month before that, a Russian drone that had gone off course during an attack on Ukraine struck a residential apartment building in eastern Romania, leaving two people injured.
