Ukrainian and Turkish Nationals Rescued from Disabled Dinghy Near Burgas

On the evening of March 2, Bulgarian border guards received a signal that a boat with two foreigners was in the Black Sea, about 13 nautical miles east of Masleny Nose, on their country's coast.

The border police ship Obzor was sent to the scene and about 12 nautical miles east of the coast found a rubber dinghy with a man and a woman on board, according to the Novosti bTV news outlet.

They were first put on a fishing boat, which was closer, and then on board a border guard ship headed for the port in Burgas.

During the first conversation with the two victims, the border guards found out that they were citizens of Ukraine and Turkey.

According to them, they had left Odesa three days ago with the intention of getting to Varna. On March 2, around noon, they asked for help from the m/v GERDA S and boarded the vessel.

They received water from the crew, but when they realized that the vessel would not visit the Bulgarian port and was heading to Romania, they decided to disembark and continue their course to Varna. Later, the boat's engine broke down, the weather worsened, and they decided to remove the engine to lighten the boat. Then they called 112 for help.

On the morning of March 3, the border guard ship docked in the port, and the foreigners were handed over to officers of the Burgas Police Department. They underwent a medical examination, which found that their condition was satisfactory.

The Burgas Border Police Department received information from the Romanian Border Police that the GERDA S had reported that there were people in distress on board who did not want to go to Romania, and then disembarked and headed for the Bulgarian coast.

After checking the data of the persons in the information systems, the border guards found that the citizen of Ukraine was banned from entering or residing in the Schengen area, the initiating country being Greece.

Кирило Бойко