A maritime drone exploded on Friday morning in the civil port of Constanta, Romania, after being detected near the headquarters of the Romanian Agency for Saving Human Life at Sea. According to the Romanian Ministry of Defense, the vehicle “self-detonated” around 10.30 am, without causing any casualties. The area, Bucharest specified, had already been secured and isolated by forces of the Romanian Intelligence Service, the Coast Guard and the Ministry of Defense.
The most delicate point is precisely the nature of the medium. The Ministry of Defense also clarified that it is not part of the Romanian army and that it had not been used in recent exercises organized by the ministry in the Black Sea area. The case is now under investigation by the Prosecutor’s Office at the Court of Appeal of Constanta. According to what we learn, the maritime drone is “of the type used in the war in Ukraine”.
According to initial reconstructions by the Romanian media, the drone had been found at dock 78 of the port, in the area of Arsvom, the sea rescue agency. Before the explosion, authorities were checking whether the drone contained explosives.
The episode comes a week after another incident that raised tension in Romania, a NATO member country bordering Ukraine. On the night between 28 and 29 May a drone crashed into an apartment building in Galați, causing an explosion and fire. According to the Romanian authorities, it was a Russian drone that entered the country’s airspace during an attack against Ukraine; two people were injured.