It was not immediately clear who carried out the attack by air and sea drones about 70 miles (112 km) off the coastal town of Byala in eastern Bulgaria, but there are growing concerns about hybrid attacks by Russia as it wages war in Ukraine

International News via Reuters:

The crew of a merchant ship was missing on Tuesday after the vessel sank in the Black Sea off NATO member Bulgaria following a drone strike that Prime Minister Rumen Radev described as a gross violation of international law. 

It was not immediately clear who carried out the attack by air and sea drones about 70 miles (112 km) off the coastal town of Byala in eastern Bulgaria, but there are growing concerns about hybrid attacks by Russia as it wages war in Ukraine.

Shipping sources said it appeared to be the first such attack in Bulgarian waters. 

Two ships were hit in the attack, Radev said in a televised statement. The crew of one, which was carrying grain, was rescued, with two injured. The other, which sank, was a Togo-flagged ship whose cargo was not disclosed.

A search has been launched for the missing crew and for any signs of an environmental threat. 

A maritime security source said initial assessments of the strike suggested it had probably been a Russian attack. 

Radev did not say who was behind the attack but made a reference to Russia’s war in Ukraine. 

“If this war is not brought to an end in time, it will continue to expand its geographical scope and increase the risk of even a global conflict,” he said.

“We are seeing the war intensify, with all the rules of international law now being violated, and civilian vessels being attacked at sea. This is absolutely unacceptable.”

Russia did not immediately comment on the incident.

DISTRESS SIGNALS REPORTED

British maritime risk management group Vanguard said the attacks on Tuesday were on the Togo-flagged general cargo vessel ALFA WATAN and the Palau-flagged general cargo vessel ABLE, within Bulgaria’s economic zone. 

Both vessels issued distress signals, with Bulgarian sources stating that they had been struck by drones, Vanguard wrote in a report. 

The drone attack follows an incident in which Romanian authorities said on Monday two people had died in a fire on a ship in the Black Sea outside Romania’s territorial waters.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy blamed Russian drones for the incident. Russian authorities issued no immediate comment on it.

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, European countries have reported Russian drones breaching ⁠their ​airspace multiple times and mines floating in the ​Black Sea across trade and energy routes. 

Reporting by Alex Lefkowitz and Ivana Sekularac, Editing by Edward McAllister and Timothy Heritage

Kenya is the third country to record a case linked to the Ebola epidemic in eastern Congo, the second largest on record

International News via Reuters:

Kenya confirmed its first Ebola case on Tuesday after a Kenyan citizen who had travelled from the Democratic Republic of Congo died in Nairobi.

Kenya is the third country to record a case linked to the Ebola epidemic in eastern Congo, the second largest on record. Uganda reported 20 cases and two deaths earlier in the year but was declared Ebola-free in August.

The Kenyan patient had been ill for about a month before travelling by road from Congo to Uganda’s capital, Kampala, and then flying to Nairobi on Saturday, Health Minister Aden Duale told a news conference.

After arriving at Nairobi’s international airport, he passed through health screening and was later taken by a relative to Nairobi Hospital. He was admitted with fever, chills and bleeding beneath the skin and was quickly placed in isolation, Duale said.

He died late on Monday. 

Health ministry Director General Patrick Amoth said the patient may have passed through airport screening because medication had masked his symptoms.

PATIENT TO BE BURIED ON TUESDAY 

Duale said Kenya was well-prepared to respond to Ebola cases.

“We have continued to maintain, as a country, a high level of alert for Ebola since the outbreak began in May,” he said. 

The patient was due to be buried later on Tuesday under protocols designed to prevent further spread of the virus, Duale said.

Health authorities have identified 28 people he came into contact with in Kenya, including relatives and healthcare workers. They are trying to trace another 23 passengers and four crew members who were on his Jambojet flight, he said. 

Ebola spreads through direct contact with the bodily fluids of infected people, whether living or dead. The disease can cause fever, vomiting, diarrhoea and, in severe cases, internal and external bleeding.

The outbreak in Congo was declared in mid-May but may have started months earlier. It has infected more than 8,000 people and caused more than 4,000 deaths despite efforts to contain it.

The outbreak is caused by the rare Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, for which there is no proven vaccine or treatment. 

Reporting by Vincent Mumo Nzilani and Edwin Okoth. Writing by Aaron Ross. Editing by Alexander Winning and Mark Potter