Russia targeted corn-loaded vessel with three missiles, killed 10 crew members
Russia launched a missile strike on the civilian bulk carrier GOLDEN LEO (IMO: 9181833) carrying corn on Sunday, July 19, killing 5 people.
According to the Ukrainian Navy, the vessel was sailing out of the combat zone when it was hit by three Kh-59/Kh-69 cruise missiles. The GOLDEN LEO, sailing under the flag of Guinea-Bissau and owned by a Turkish company, was struck on the starboard side of its superstructure, triggering a fire. The extent of the damage to the vessel is being assessed.
The Navy initially reported five fatalities, with five crew members missing. Search and rescue operations continued overnight.
Rescue teams from the Ukrainian Navy and the Maritime Search and Rescue Service evacuated eight crew members and transported them to a hospital in Odesa.
The Ukrainian Navy said GOLDEN LEO was an unarmed civilian vessel sailing under a foreign flag and posed no military threat. It described the strike as an act of terror against peaceful navigation and a gross violation of international humanitarian law.
UPDATE. 9:00 a.m., July 20: Ukraine's Sea Ports Authority (USPA) said the death toll had risen to 10, including a pilot employed by the state-owned Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority. Eight crew members were rescued and brought ashore.
The vessel carried a crew of 17, comprising Syrian and Indian nationals, as well as a pilot from the Delta Pilot branch of the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority.
