On the night of June 5, 2026, two cargo ships in the Taganrog Bay of the Sea of Azov — the "Natra" and "Zirkon" dry cargo ships, moving in ballast condition to load grain from Turkey to Rostov-on-Don — were attacked by drones. Five people died as a result of the attacks.
Medianews.az reports that this information was received from the Taman Maritime Rescue and Coordination Center at 04:04 Baku time.
"The 'Natra' ship was struck by four UAV hits, two crew members died. The fire was extinguished by the crew members, the ship remains afloat and needs to be towed. The 'Zirkon' ship received four hits on the superstructure; three crew members died. The crew left the ship by lifeboats; the fire continues on board," the operational report states.
The "Natra" dry cargo ship (sailing under the Belize flag) had 12 people on board, and the "Zirkon" dry cargo ship (sailing under the Palau flag) had 14 people on board. All of them were Azerbaijani citizens employed individually as paid seafarers. Both ships sail under foreign flags and do not belong to the Azerbaijani state.
There was a bit more than an hour difference between the attacks: the "Natra" was hit at 00:45, and the "Zirkon" at 01:55.
The surviving seafarers were rescued by three ships passing through the area where the tragedy occurred. By dawn, all rescued were delivered to the Yeysk port. Two tugboats were sent to tow the "Natra," which remained afloat and damaged. //Trend