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| Romanian Military Ship Hits Mine in Black Sea During Mission (Pict of Illustration) |
Bucharest - A Romanian military ship designed to clear sea mines hit one during a mission in the Black Sea. The Romanian Navy revealed this in the statement. The incident involving the minesweeper "Lieutenant Dimitrie Nicolescu" occurred on Thursday (8/9/2022).
The ship had arrived in the area to remove mines that other ships had found. However, as Lieutenant Dimitrie Nicolescu approached the free-floating mine, the winds picked up, preventing the crew from completing the task.
The ship was eventually hit by a mine. According to the Romanian Navy, the explosion resulted in a small hole in the aft compartment of the minesweeper. "The 75 crewmembers are not in danger," the statement said, with no casualties reported. "The minesweeper's buoyancy was not damaged as a result of the incident, with the crew moving quickly to seal the hole," the officials said.
Another Romanian Navy ship departed from the Port of Constanta to tow a damaged minesweeper. No information has yet been published from which country the mine is located, which is located about 46 km from the port.
According to Romanian news site Monitorul, this is the third sea mine to enter the country's territorial waters since the start of Russia's military operation in Ukraine in late February. Since then, several sea mines have also been neutralized by the Turkish and Bulgarian navies.
Russia has repeatedly warned that naval mines planted by the Ukrainian military at the start of the conflict could pose a threat to maritime navigation in the Black Sea. Moscow added several mines of which they ended up drifting from their original positions on several occasions. Instead, Ukraine accused Russia of endangering civilian ships with its actions.