{
 "publisher": "DroneLedger",
 "site": "https://droneincidents.com",
 "generated": "2026-10-13T09:47:02+00:00",
 "release": "20261013T094702325757-b25b7c",
 "license": {
  "name": "CC BY 4.0",
  "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "attribution": "DroneLedger (droneincidents.com)",
  "excludes": "Quoted source passages and linked articles remain the copyright of their publishers; they are included as short quotations for verification. Fonts (SIL OFL) and map data (Natural Earth, public domain) keep their own terms. City and region names in automatically published dossiers are checked against GeoNames (geonames.org, CC BY 4.0). Drone drawings and animations are schematic illustrations of a type, not evidence about any incident."
 },
 "evidenceNote": "Each dossier separates three claims: drone presence, impact and attribution, each with its own evidence state and supporting sources. 'reported' means a source describes the claim without sufficient identification evidence; claims by parties to a conflict are never 'confirmed' on their own. Counts reflect dossiers in this curated archive, not all incidents worldwide.",
 "locationNote": "lat/lon are the dossier's own approximate coordinates (see locationPrecision) and are empty when the incident location is unknown. referencePoint {lat, lon, level, name} is a display reference only: a fixed point in the named city (GeoNames), region (its administrative seat), sea or country (Natural Earth label point), derived at build time. It is not a geolocation, not an estimate of the incident location and may change when the dossier's place becomes more precise: reference point; incident location unknown.",
 "howToCite": "Cite the dossier URL and revision, e.g. DroneLedger, “Drones strike cargo ship Chelsea 3 off Byala, Bulgaria; crew of 15 rescued”, dossier chelsea-3-drone-strike-off-byala-2026-10-13, revision 1, updated 2026-10-13. https://droneincidents.com/incident/chelsea-3-drone-strike-off-byala-2026-10-13/",
 "incident": {
  "id": "alfa-watan-able-drone-attack-off-bulgaria-2026-10-06",
  "title": "Drones sink cargo ship Alfa Watan and set the Able on fire off Bulgaria; Alfa Watan crew missing",
  "place": "Black Sea, about 70 nautical miles east of Byala (Bulgarian exclusive economic zone)",
  "country": "Bulgaria",
  "countryCode": "BG",
  "date": "2026-10-06",
  "dateKind": "event",
  "scope": "single",
  "category": "maritime",
  "droneStatus": "confirmed",
  "impactStatus": "confirmed",
  "attributionStatus": "none",
  "lat": 42.9,
  "lon": 29.5,
  "locationPrecision": "region",
  "summary": "Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev said sea and aerial drones hit two Turkish-owned cargo ships about 70 nautical miles off Bulgaria's coast early on 6 October 2026. The Togo-flagged Alfa Watan sank at the scene; the Palau-flagged Able caught fire and its 18 crew members were evacuated.",
  "impact": "A Bulgarian ferry and a naval fast boat evacuated all 18 crew members of the Able; two were seriously injured and flown to hospital in Varna. The Alfa Watan sank within minutes. Media reports put its crew at 10 to 12, a number Bulgarian authorities did not confirm; Bulgaria called off the search on 7 October after finding an overturned lifeboat, three life rafts and debris. Early figures from Romania's interior ministry of two deaths and 11 people rescued were not confirmed by Bulgarian officials.",
  "evidence": "Drone involvement rests on the statement of Bulgaria's prime minister, whose country is not a party to the war, reported by Al Jazeera with AFP and AP; The Maritime Executive and Novinite report the ships, the rescue and the search. Sources give the distance from the coast as 70 to 80 nautical miles; The Maritime Executive gives the Alfa Watan's registry as Tonga rather than Togo.",
  "unknown": "Who launched the drones is not established. The number of crew on the Alfa Watan and their fate were not confirmed, and no drone remains were reported found.",
  "attribution": "Not established. Russia's embassy in Bulgaria said the ships were not on the Russian Defence Ministry's target list and called for an investigation. Bulgaria has not assigned blame; President Iliana Yotova called on both Russia and Ukraine to stop attacks on merchant ships.",
  "sources": [
   {
    "label": "Al Jazeera: Bulgaria searches for missing crew after drones hit two ships in Black Sea",
    "url": "https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/10/6/bulgaria-says-two-commercial-vessels-were-hit-in-drone-attack-in-its-waters",
    "published": "2026-10-06",
    "family": "afp-ap"
   },
   {
    "label": "The Maritime Executive: Bulgaria suspends search for missing crew as Russia denies attack",
    "url": "https://maritime-executive.com/article/bulgaria-suspends-search-for-missing-crew-as-russia-denies-attack",
    "published": "2026-10-07",
    "family": "maritime-executive"
   },
   {
    "label": "Novinite: Drone attack rocks Bulgaria's Black Sea waters, ship sinks",
    "url": "https://www.novinite.com/articles/240898/Drone+Attack+Rocks+Bulgaria%E2%80%99s+Black+Sea+Waters,+Ship+Sinks",
    "published": "2026-10-06",
    "family": "novinite"
   }
  ],
  "timeline": [
   {
    "date": "2026-10-06",
    "text": "The Alfa Watan's distress beacon signalled at about 02:30 local time; the Able's crew reported a fire after a strike on the stern at about 03:30.",
    "source": 1
   },
   {
    "date": "2026-10-06",
    "text": "Prime Minister Radev said sea and aerial drones hit two commercial vessels about 70 nautical miles off the coast and called it a blatant violation of international and maritime law.",
    "source": 0
   },
   {
    "date": "2026-10-07",
    "text": "Bulgaria called off the search for the Alfa Watan's crew after finding an overturned lifeboat, three life rafts and debris; Russia's embassy denied the ships were Russian targets.",
    "source": 1
   }
  ],
  "droneStatusSources": [
   0,
   1,
   2
  ],
  "impactStatusSources": [
   0,
   1,
   2
  ],
  "attributionSources": [],
  "droneTypes": [],
  "claims": [],
  "review": "editor",
  "checkedAt": "2026-10-13",
  "autoCheckedAt": null,
  "updatedAt": "2026-10-13",
  "revision": 1,
  "corroboration": "curated",
  "referencePoint": null,
  "labels": {
   "category": "Maritime attack",
   "droneStatus": "Confirmed",
   "impactStatus": "Confirmed",
   "attributionStatus": "Not established"
  },
  "url": "https://droneincidents.com/incident/alfa-watan-able-drone-attack-off-bulgaria-2026-10-06/",
  "citation": "DroneLedger, “Drones sink cargo ship Alfa Watan and set the Able on fire off Bulgaria; Alfa Watan crew missing”, dossier alfa-watan-able-drone-attack-off-bulgaria-2026-10-06, revision 1, updated 2026-10-13. https://droneincidents.com/incident/alfa-watan-able-drone-attack-off-bulgaria-2026-10-06/",
  "history": [
   {
    "revision": 1,
    "date": "2026-10-13",
    "at": "2026-10-13T06:46:36.887+00:00",
    "note": "Curated dossier created after checking the cited sources line by line."
   }
  ]
 }
}