On the night of June 5, 2026, two cargo ships — the dry cargo ships "Natra" and "Zirkon", which were moving in ballast from Turkey to Rostov-on-Don to load grain — were attacked by unmanned aerial vehicles in the Taganrog Bay of the Sea of Azov. Five people died as a result of the attacks.
Modern.az reports with reference to Trend that this was stated in the information received from the Taman Sea Rescue and Coordination Center at 04:04 Baku time.
""Natra" ship was hit by four UAVs, two crew members died. The fire was extinguished by the crew members, the ship remains afloat and needs to be towed. Four hits were recorded on the superstructure of the "Zirkon" ship, three crew members died. The crew members left the ship in lifeboats, the fire continues on the ship," — the operational information notes.
There were 12 people on the "Natra" dry cargo ship (sailing under the flag of Belize) and 14 people on the "Zirkon" dry cargo ship (sailing under the flag of Palau). All of them were citizens of Azerbaijan hired individually as mercenary sailors. Both ships sail under foreign flags and do not belong to the Azerbaijani state.
There was a little more than an hour between the attacks: "Natra" was hit at 00:45, and "Zirkon" at 01:55.
The surviving sailors were rescued by three ships passing through the area of the tragedy. By morning, all those rescued were delivered to the port of Yeysk. Two tugboats were sent to the scene to tow the damaged "Natra" ship, which remained afloat.
