A sailor dies after a Ukraine-bound tanker catches fire off Romania as officials probe war link

A sailor injured when a Ukraine-bound tanker ship caught fire off Romania’s Black Sea coast has died, Romanian media reported on Thursday, as authorities investigate a possible link to Russia’s war against Ukraine.

The ship, a Liberian-flagged vessel named Gas Lisbon, was sailing across the Black Sea toward a Ukrainian port when it was “struck” late Monday around 20 nautical miles off Romania’s coast, Romanian President Nicusor Dan said on Tuesday. Romanian authorities approached the vessel and evacuated the entire 17-member crew, including three injured sailors. Two of those injured had burns on approximately 10-15% of their bodies while the third suffered multiple wounds, according to Romania’s Department for Emergency Situations.

On Thursday, Romanian news outlet news.ro reported that one of the injured sailors, a 45-year-old Philippine national, had died.

The outlet quoted the director of the Tulcea County Hospital, Tudor-Ion Nastasescu, as saying the sailor “had a burn of the airways and a pulmonary complication related to this burn that caused his death.”

Nastasescu added that the other two injured sailors, both Philippine nationals, are currently being treated in the hospital’s intensive care unit and are in stable condition.