Bulgaria’s navy has “increased its vigilance” and taken additional measures to monitor mines in the Black Sea following an incident a day ago off the coast of Romania in Kostineti, the defense ministry in Sofia said on Tuesday.

• “In connection with the received information about the explosion of a sea mine near the resort of Kostinest in the Black Sea in Romania, the Bulgarian Navy took additional mine countermeasures to ensure the safety of shipping and prevent accidents.
• Additional forces and means are kept in a state of immediate readiness to respond to signals about floating mines, to clear them,” said the press release of the Ministry of Defense of Bulgaria, quoted by News.ro.

We will remind you that a strong explosion occurred on Tuesday morning near the pier, opposite the Forum Hotel in the Kostineshti resort, and according to the first information, it was a sea mine. The Bulgarian press reminds that this is not the first such incident after the Russian invasion of Ukraine from Ukraine, and in this context notes that on Saturday an anti-tank mine was discovered in the sea, near the beach near Kavala, in northern Greece. , the ANA-MPA agency reports. The Greek Coast Guard clarified that the mine was located 25 meters from the shore, at a depth of approximately 2 meters and was severely damaged by corrosion.

After Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, more areas of the Black Sea were mined. Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey have special teams of divers who have cleared more mines floating in their waters. According to statistics at the beginning of this year, after almost a year of war, Turkey, Romania, Bulgaria and Ukraine destroyed about 40 mines in the waters of the western Black Sea.

The spokesman of the Romanian Navy, Corneliu Pavel, said on Monday that since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, divers have neutralized 5 sea mines in Romania’s area of ​​responsibility.

After the explosion in Kostineshti, a group of divers specializing in the destruction of explosive devices intervened on the scene, and the authorities did not confirm that the cause of the explosion was a sea mine.

• PHOTO/VIDEO Sea mine explosion in the area of ​​the pier in front of the hotel in Kostinesti. “The earth shook” / Measures announced by the authorities

In a statement sent on Monday evening, the Romanian Navy did not give any clear indication of the cause of the explosion, saying only that no drifting sea mines were found after checks carried out on the Romanian coast following the incident in Costineşti.

• “On Monday, August 14, the Romanian Navy carried out a survey of the sea space near the Romanian coast as a result of information received around 10.00 from ISU Dobrogea regarding the possible explosion of a sea mine in the area of ​​the Costinesti breakwater, also taking into account the presence of a drifting mine in the area of ​​the Mangalia port dam.
• EOD divers and a coast guard ship carried out a joint mission to survey the sea area off the coast of Kostinesti, as a result of which no drifting sea mines were detected.
• Also today, the minesweeper and minesweeper “Vice Admiral Constantin Bălescu” (PM-274), the IAR Puma Naval helicopter and the United States of America patrol aircraft carried out, starting at 13.00, joint sea and air reconnaissance missions in the maritime space between Constanta and Mangalia, after which they did not find a single sea mine drifting in the investigated space”, – announced the representatives of the Romanian Navy.