Death toll from Russian attack on ship in Odesa region rises

The death toll from the Russian attack on the Ukrainian Navy ship Simferopol has risen to two.

This was reported by Captain Dmytro Pletenchuk, a spokesman for the Ukrainian Navy, on the air of the "Single Marathon".

"We already have the second deceased. Search and rescue operations are underway," he said.

Yesterday, the Navy confirmed the death of one crew member.

The spokesman also emphasized that several sailors are missing and several others were injured. However, according to Pletenchuk, the majority of the crew has been mostly safe since yesterday.

On August 28, the Russian Ministry of Defense reported that a medium-sized reconnaissance ship "Simferopol" was defeated at the mouth of the Danube River using a fast-moving unmanned boat.

Dmytro Pletenchuk, in turn, did not confirm the information that the ship sank as a result of the attack.

Earlier, late in the evening on July 23, an emergency occurred with a dredger belonging to the Delta Pilot branch of the State Enterprise Administration of the Sea Ports of Ukraine - the vessel hit a mine. The explosion killed three USPA employees. Other crew members were hospitalized. The vessel was at the mouth of the Bystrye River to carry out scheduled work with 11 crew members. The Bystre estuary channel was closed to ship traffic for some time. This was the first such incident in the last three years.

The last time vessels were reported to have been blown up by mines in the Bystryi Estuary was in 2022, when, also in July, three vessels were blown up in five days. The victims were the pilot boat Orlyk and the small hydrographic vessel Shliakhovyk, and on August 1, a floating crane that was supposed to lift the pilot boat Orlyk exploded on a mine.

After that, the canal was closed until the end of the first decade of August. Reports that merchant ships were once again sailing to Ukrainian Danube ports through the Bystryi Estuary appeared on August 12, 2022.

Кирило Бойко