Drone-damaged “shadow fleet” tanker runs aground off Bulgaria, rescue operation underway

The tanker Kairos, which was damaged on Nov. 28 in an attack by Ukrainian sea drones off Turkey’s Black Sea coast, ran aground several days later near the Bulgarian town of Ahtopol. Bulgarian authorities launched a rescue operation overnight on Dec. 6, Bulgarian outlet BNT reports.

According to BNT, the vessel has remained aground for two days. Bulgarian officials claim that a Turkish tug towed the burning tanker into Bulgarian territorial waters and left it there. An attempt to board the ship on Dec. 6 failed due to a severe storm. The crew of ten, BNT reports, has sufficient supplies of food and water and does not require an urgent evacuation.

Earlier, Bulgaria's Executive Agency Maritime Administration (EAMA) reported that rescuers were working in difficult conditions, as Kairos is located roughly one nautical mile from the coast.

The attack on Kairos, which was on its way to Novorossiysk, took place on Nov. 28. CNN and Reuters reported that the vessel was hit by Ukrainian Sea Baby drones of the type used by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU). Around the same time, another shadow fleet tanker, Virat, was struck twice while sailing in the Black Sea.

As previously reported by The Insider, the tankers Kairos and Virat are on British and EU sanctions lists due to their role in transporting Russian oil. Although Kairos sailed under the Gambian flag, it was recently removed from the country’s ship registry for certificate fraud and is no longer registered to any state. The same decision stripped Virat — along with 70 other vessels — of the right to sail under the Gambian flag. According to open-source data, Kairos has repeatedly visited ports in Russia, Turkey, China, India, and Russian-occupied Crimea.