Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry has urged citizens to avoid working aboard vessels operating along high-risk routes, particularly in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, following a drone attack on a cargo ship carrying Azerbaijani nationals off the Bulgarian coast.

“At around 1:30 a.m. on October 13, the cargo vessel CHELSEA-3 came under a drone attack in the Black Sea, approximately 18 nautical miles east of the Bulgarian city of Byala. According to the information received, all eight Azerbaijani citizens among the ship’s 15 crew members were rescued. Ramin Rauf oglu Gambarli, born in 1993, has been hospitalized at a military hospital in Varna, and his condition remains under medical supervision. The other seven Azerbaijani citizens have undergone initial medical examinations, and their condition is satisfactory,” the ministry spokesman, Aykhan Hajizada, told journalists, The Caspian Post reports.

He was commenting on the attack on the vessel carrying Azerbaijani citizens off the Bulgarian coast in the Black Sea.

Hajizada said the Foreign Ministry was coordinating efforts with Azerbaijan’s diplomatic missions and the relevant authorities of the countries concerned.

“Measures are being taken to provide our citizens with the necessary medical and consular assistance and ensure their safe return to Azerbaijan,” he emphasized.

“We once again call on Azerbaijani citizens to avoid travelling to conflict zones and areas with unstable security conditions, and to refrain from working in such areas or aboard vessels operating along high-risk routes, particularly in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov,” Hajizada stressed.