Romanian Divers Neutralize Drifting Mine In Black Sea

 Romanian divers have successfully neutralized a drifting sea mine near the Black Sea port of Constanta, the country's naval forces said on Saturday.

The mine was found by Turkish cargo ship Ahmet Kan on Saturday morning, floating adrift around 2.5 nautical miles from the head of the northern pier of the Constanta port, the navy said in a statement.

"A Coast Guard vessel soon moved to the scene to inspect the reported floating object, confirming it to be a sea mine, which endangered the safety of navigation... The EOD (explosive ordnance disposal) diver team was dispatched to the indicated area on two speedboats to neutralize the drifting sea mine in the navy's zone of responsibility. After all safety measures were taken and the dangerous area was secured, military divers neutralized the mine by destroying it," the statement read.

This was the fourth operation of the Romanian navy to destroy drifting mines since the start of hostilities in Ukraine. A total of 40 sea mines have been destroyed in the western basin of the Black Sea over the past nine months, the Romanian authorities say.

In March, the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) said that the Ukrainian military had installed about 420 mines at the entrance to the Ukrainian ports since the beginning of the Russian military operation in the country. The FSB did not exclude the possibility of the mines drifting to the Bosporus Strait and further into the Mediterranean Sea.