President Nicusor Dan said that the commercial vessel which caught fire on Thursday evening in the Black Sea had been 'hit,' praising the intervention of the Coast Guard, which led to all crew members being rescued.

'During this evening, we had an incident that was on the limit, but outside our territorial waters. We had a vessel that had been hit. Fortunately, thanks to the intervention of our Coast Guard, all the crew members were rescued, for which I congratulate the Coast Guard teams for acting promptly and in adverse weather conditions. (...) The vessel was hit (...) and it appears to have sunk. But at the moment we do not know by whom, what kind of... I mean, there will be an investigation and it will be established, but it is not good to engage in speculation now,' Nicusor Dan told a press conference in Chisinau.

A commercial vessel flying the flag of the Dominican Republic caught fire on Thursday evening in the Black Sea, in Romania's exclusive economic zone. All 12 crew members were rescued.

'On 27 August 2026, at around 19:00, border police officers from the Coast Guard were informed by MRCC [Maritime Coordination Centre] Constanta that a fire had broken out on board a commercial vessel located in Romania's exclusive economic zone, approximately 20 nautical miles south-east of Sfantu Gheorghe. MRCC Constanta launched a search and rescue operation for people in distress at sea, with the first intervention provided by a naval vessel from the Coast Guard, designated by MRCC Constanta as the on-scene coordinator,' the Coast Guard said.

Following information provided by a commercial vessel in the area, according to which people had been spotted in the water, the border police officers immediately took action to search for and rescue them.

As a result of the rescue operation, by 21:00 all 12 people who had been on board the commercial vessel had been rescued. Ten of them were rescued by border police officers, one of whom was injured, while the other two were rescued by the crew of the commercial vessel.

'The search and rescue operation was carried out in difficult conditions, with waves approximately 2.5 metres high, but the rapid intervention of the border police officers, who coordinated the two ARSVOM [Romanian Agency for Saving Lives at Sea] vessels and the commercial vessel, ensured the rescue of all people in distress,' the source said. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Georgiana Tanasescu; EN - writing by: Adina Panaitescu)

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