A cargo ship, the Mohammad Z, sank off the Black Sea coast in Romania, prompting a search for three missing crew members since May 18.
As Reuters reports, the vessel, flying the Tanzanian flag, went down 26 nautical miles from Romania’s Danube village of Sfantu Gheorghe. Of the eleven crew members, nine were Syrian citizens and two were Egyptians.
Eight were rescued by the nearby commercial vessel Michel, coordinated by the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC), leaving three Syrians still missing.
The cause of the sinking remains unclear. The Black Sea is vital for transporting grain, oil, and oil products, shared by several countries including Bulgaria, Romania, Georgia, Turkey, Ukraine, and Russia.