(Reuters) – A Panama-flagged bulk carrier that was headed to a River Danube port to load grain has hit a mine in the Black Sea, the Ukrainian military said on Thursday.
It was the latest incident of a civilian vessel hitting an explosive in the Black Sea in what Kyiv says is stepped-up Russian attacks on shipping and port infrastructure.
“A Panama-flagged civilian vessel was blown up on an enemy sea mine in the Black Sea…The vessel lost its course and control, and a fire broke out on the upper deck,” Ukraine’s southern military command said on Telegram.
One person was hospitalized, and another received medical help on board. Tugs were sent to the site, the military added.
It did not say on what day the incident happened.
Moscow has increased attacks on Ukraine’s port infrastructure since mid-July, when it quit a U.N.-brokered deal that allowed safe passage of Ukrainian grain shipments via the Black Sea.
Kyiv since has established an alternative route, which hugs the western shores of the Black Sea. It said Russian forces have been repeatedly dropping explosive devices in its vicinity.
(Reporting by Yuliia Dysa, Editing by William Maclean and Angus MacSwan)
