The search for the crew of the sunken cargo ship "Alpha Vatan" was suspended on Tuesday at 17:00 and will not be resumed. This was announced by Rear Admiral Rumen Nikolov, head of the Maritime Rescue Coordination Center.
“There are no traces of the crew of the sunken ship and there probably will be no traces“, Rumen Nikolov said.One overturned boat, three life rafts and parts of the ship's equipment have been found in the area. No crew members have been found. The exact number of sailors on board the "Alpha Vatan" has not been officially confirmed, and Maritime.bg reported a 10-member crew.
The ship sank in about three minutes
„Alpha Vatan“ was sailing under the flag of Togo and sank about 70 nautical miles east of Byala, in the Bulgarian exclusive economic zone. The distress signal was received at 2:54 a.m. on October 6. At 3:05 a.m., the crew of the Bulgarian ship „Dioscuria“ observed an explosion and the subsequent sinking of the vessel.
The Chief of Defense, Admiral Emil Eftimov, told BNT that about three minutes passed between the observed impact and the sinking. According to him, the short interval, the night time and the strike left little opportunity for the crew to react.
18 sailors from the other ship were rescued
The cargo ship “Able“, which was sailing under the flag of Palau, was also hit in the same area. All 18 people from its crew were rescued and taken to Varna. One sailor with severe burns remains in the intensive care unit of the Naval Hospital, and the captain was examined for a head injury.
Two “Cougar“ helicopters from the “Krumovo“ airbase and a Su-25 aircraft participated in the search for the crew of “Alpha Vatan“. After the operation was terminated, it remains unknown what happened to the people on the sunken ship.
The authorities are also continuing to check for possible pollution of the sea. Water samples have been taken from Cape Kaliakra, Byala and Sozopol.
Sources: 24plovdiv.bg, bntnews.bg, maritime.bg