When a cargo vessel is struck in a war zone and its crew is fighting for survival, the name of the person who answers the distress call matters. In the Black Sea on 6 October 2026, that person was Captain Anatoliy Zlatarov, master of the Bulgarian-flagged ro-ro passenger ship DIOSCURIA.
A rescue in the Black Sea
According to Club Z, citing the specialist maritime portal Maritime.bg, Captain Zlatarov and his crew pulled the sailors from the stricken motor vessel ABLE to safety after the ship was hit in what reports describe as a military strike. Border Police cutters then transported the rescued seafarers from the scene to Varna, while DIOSCURIA continued on its scheduled course to the Georgian port of Poti.
Of the 18 sailors saved, the situation remains serious for at least one. Varna24 reports that an Indian national among the rescued is receiving treatment for burns covering more than 40 percent of his body at the Naval Hospital in Varna. Several other crew members, citizens of Turkey and India, were examined at St. Anna Hospital and discharged with minor injuries. Varna's mayor Blagomir Kotsev confirmed there is no direct environmental threat to the city or the coastline. The incident occurred roughly 70 nautical miles offshore, within Bulgaria's economic zone.
The Black Sea has seen repeated strikes on commercial shipping since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, making civilian maritime rescues in the region more frequent and more dangerous.
