Maritime drone explodes at Black Sea port

A maritime drone that is being used in the war in neighbouring Ukraine exploded on Friday at a Black Sea port in Romania but did not cause any casualties, the Defence Ministry said.

It said the drone self-detonated in the port of Constanta at around 10:30 am, and that the area had already been secured and isolated by the Romanian Intelligence Service, coast guard and the Defence Ministry.

The drone was not part of the Romanian army’s equipment and was not involved in its recent exercises in the Black Sea area, the ministry said. The area was evacuated, authorities said. The maritime incident occurred a week after a Russian aerial drone that was part of an attack on Ukraine went astray and struck an apartment building in Romania’s eastern Danube port city of Galati, injuring two people in the NATO member country.

Raed Arafat, the head of the Department for Emergency Situations, told a news conference that helicopters were deployed to search for more drones and that the authorities issued text message alerts to residents. “There is a possibility that there may be other drones,” he said.

“We are not panicking. These are preventive measures. If there are other drones, we want to make sure there is not another explosion in an area where people are not evacuated.” Romanian President

Nicusor Dan said that law enforcement and security services “acted quickly and preventively” before the explosion and that the priority was the protection of lives and the security of port infrastructure.

“With a military conflict on the border, it is obvious that the security environment we are in is a sensitive one, which is why we will maintain a high level of vigilance,” he said, adding that the incident is a “direct consequence of the war of aggression unleashed by Russia against Ukraine.”