The Russian invaders fired on the merchant ship Helt, which stood at the entrance to the Gulf of Odessa. The ship split and went down, reports the Odessa edition of "Dumska".
The ship's crew consisted of six men - four Ukrainians and two Russians. According to "Dumska", two of them - a cook and a boatswain - managed to escape on a raft. The seamen are in a lifeboat and try to row ashore.
"Rescue operation with the assistance of COLREGs forces (International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea - Universal International Treaty to which 153 States, including Ukraine, are parties. - Red.) is not possible. The port is targeted by Russian ships, and any exit to the sea to rescue the crew may result in the loss of ships," the publication says.
Yesterday, Russian ships demanded that the ship enter the danger zone of the Black Sea to cover itself as a shield. Otherwise, they threatened to open fire.
Adviser to the Minister of the Interior, Anton Gerashchenko, confirmed the information about the crew casualties.
"On 03.03.2022 due to the refusal to enter the seaport of Odesa, the mined part of the Odesa Sea Area, two missiles below the waterline sank the merchant ship Helt, which was flying the flag of Panama, in the area of the Tendra Spit," he reported.
We remind that on the 2nd of March, a Bangladeshi national was killed by a missile attack on a foreign vessel near Olvia. The ship Banglar Samriddhi entered the Mykolaiv port on the 23d of February. It was waiting for the load, without the possibility of leaving due to the restrictions of the Russian Navy.