Media: A cargo ship hit a mine in the Black Sea off the coast of Romania

A Turkish-flagged cargo ship hit a mine on Thursday in the Black Sea off the coast of Romania. This happened on Thursday, October 5, Reuters reports. It is noted that the cargo ship sustained minor damage.

The incident occurred at 12:20 Kyiv time near the mouth of the Danube, 11 nautical miles north of the town of Sulina, near the entrance to the Sulina Canal. Information about the incident was provided by the British maritime security company Ambrey.

Illustrative photo: Sea mine

After the explosion, the vessel dropped anchor for a short period to assess the damage. After about 3 hours, the vessel resumed sailing.

No casualties were reported. "It was one of the first incidents for some months involving a ship hitting a sea mine. The Black Sea area has been listed as a high risk zone by insurers and floating mines remain a peril," the report says.

A Ukrainian government source confirmed a vessel had struck a mine, adding it was "probably a World War II mine, or the landing mines that were left there last year".

The town of Sulina on the map

The head of the Bosphorus Observer consultancy, citing knowledge of the matter, reported that the vessel was the Kafkametler. According to the ship tracking data by MarineTraffic maritime analytics provider, Kafkametler dropped anchor in the Danube channel close to the Ukrainian terminal of Vylkove.

Disposal of a drifting sea mine in the Black Sea on March 28, 2022. Photo credits: Romanian Navy

Since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Romanian, Bulgarian, and Turkish navies have occasionally cleared sea mines drifting in their waters that pose a threat to navigation.

HMS Blyth.

Photo credits: Royal Navy

Romania has recently acquired two decommissioned Sandown-class minehunters from the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom.