Black Sea grain ship incident off Romania kills two crew members

A ship carrying Ukrainian grain to Italy has been involved in an incident in the Black Sea off the Romanian coast, resulting in two crew member deaths and 11 survivors. The Romanian Maritime Rescue Coordination Center received an alert at 10:37 on Monday, October 5. The vessel, ROYAD MAMMADOV, was approximately 20 nautical miles from the Romanian coast and 9 nautical miles from the Pescăruș oil platform. Rescue vessels and a coast guard unit were dispatched, with a helicopter later airlifting the wounded. The ship had departed from the Ukrainian port of Izmail. Separately, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas called for international efforts to restore the Black Sea trade route, while Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Ankara is intensifying diplomacy to resume grain exports and has received a positive signal from Ukraine.