{"id":1379,"date":"2026-08-19T09:37:49","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T09:37:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/marinersupdate.com\/blog\/?p=1379"},"modified":"2026-08-19T09:37:50","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T09:37:50","slug":"two-merchant-ships-hit-by-drones-near-novorossiysk-as-black-sea-shipping-risks-escalate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marinersupdate.com\/blog\/two-merchant-ships-hit-by-drones-near-novorossiysk-as-black-sea-shipping-risks-escalate\/","title":{"rendered":"Two Merchant Ships Hit by Drones Near Novorossiysk as Black Sea Shipping Risks Escalate"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Commercial shipping faced another serious security incident in the Black Sea on <strong>17 August 2026<\/strong>, when the Liberia-flagged bulk carrier <strong>ANNA S<\/strong> was struck by multiple aerial drones approximately <strong>20 nautical miles off Novorossiysk, Russia<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to the regional security update shown in the supplied report, the <strong>Greek-managed ANNA S (IMO 9207778)<\/strong> was in ballast and approaching Novorossiysk to load cargo when it was hit by <strong>five successive aerial drones<\/strong>. The attack triggered a major fire and caused extensive damage to the vessel. The ship&#8217;s IMO number and management details are independently consistent with vessel records.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The situation quickly became a major crew-safety incident. <strong>All 21 crew members abandoned ANNA S<\/strong> and were safely rescued by the nearby Malta-flagged bulk carrier <strong>ELINA B (IMO 9577446)<\/strong>. Other reports identify the crew as <strong>20 Filipino seafarers and a Romanian captain<\/strong>. The vessel had reportedly been heading toward Novorossiysk without cargo to load grain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, the rescue operation was followed by another attack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Approximately <strong>five hours later, ELINA B itself came under attack<\/strong>, reportedly being struck by <strong>two aerial drones<\/strong>. Despite sustaining damage, ELINA B remained operational and continued sailing toward Turkey. Vessel-tracking casualty information also records that the vessel remained operational following the attack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The incidents underline the rapidly increasing exposure of merchant shipping operating around Russia&#8217;s Black Sea ports. What makes the ANNA S incident particularly significant is that the vessel was <strong>not carrying cargo at the time and was undertaking a commercial voyage to load grain<\/strong>, demonstrating that merchant vessels can face serious risks even when they are not directly involved in transporting strategic cargo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The attacks also come amid a wider series of incidents affecting commercial vessels around <strong>Novorossiysk and Tuapse<\/strong>. Recent reporting indicates that at least <strong>five grain-related vessels<\/strong> were attacked in the vicinity of Russian Black Sea ports, with vessels either approaching ports to load grain or departing with cargo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For shipowners, operators, Masters and crews, the incidents highlight the importance of <strong>continuous threat monitoring, voyage-specific risk assessment, enhanced situational awareness and robust emergency preparedness<\/strong> when operating in or approaching affected areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The immediate priority in the ANNA S incident was the safe evacuation of the crew, followed by the rescue operation conducted by ELINA B. But the subsequent attack on the assisting vessel demonstrates how quickly the risk can extend beyond the originally targeted ship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Maritime security around the Black Sea continues to demand close attention, particularly for vessels calling at or transiting near Russian ports.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Commercial shipping faced another serious security incident in the Black Sea on 17 August 2026, when the Liberia-flagged bulk carrier ANNA S was struck by multiple aerial drones approximately 20 nautical miles off Novorossiysk, Russia. According to the regional security update shown in the supplied report, the Greek-managed ANNA S [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1380,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[62],"tags":[936,455,690,8,498,237,58,248,894,1047,272,494,213,969,321],"class_list":["post-1379","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-marine_news_update","tag-blacksea","tag-bulkcarrier","tag-droneattack","tag-marinersupdate","tag-marinetraffic","tag-maritimenews","tag-maritimesafety","tag-maritimesecurity","tag-merchantshipping","tag-novorossiysk","tag-seafarers-2","tag-seafarersafety","tag-shippingindustry","tag-shipsecurity","tag-vesselsafety"],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/marinersupdate.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/two-drone-NEWS-1024x1024.png","blog_images":{"medium":"https:\/\/marinersupdate.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/two-drone-NEWS-300x300.png","large":"https:\/\/marinersupdate.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/two-drone-NEWS-1024x1024.png"},"ams_acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marinersupdate.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1379","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marinersupdate.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marinersupdate.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marinersupdate.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marinersupdate.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1379"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/marinersupdate.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1379\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1381,"href":"https:\/\/marinersupdate.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1379\/revisions\/1381"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marinersupdate.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1380"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marinersupdate.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marinersupdate.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marinersupdate.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}