Turkish Cook Dies After Second Black Sea Drone Attack

Ilker Lazoglu, the 47-year-old chief cook of the San Marino-flagged merchant vessel Necibe, died on 21 Aug 2026 after being seriously wounded in an attack on the rescue ship Ural near Novorossiysk, in the Black Sea. Eight other crew members were also injured in the strike. Lazoglu had survived an earlier attack on 18 Aug 2026, when the Necibe was hit while loading 20,000 tons of wheat near the Russian port of Tuapse. All 18 crew members abandoned the vessel and were rescued by the Ural, a roll-on/roll-off cargo ship owned by a Turkish shipowner and flagged in Cameroon. Three days later, the Ural itself came under a similar attack near Novorossiysk, leaving Lazoglu fatally wounded and eight other seafarers hurt. Following the second attack, the Ural docked on 22 Aug 2026 at the Turkish port of Samsun, carrying Lazoglu's body along with the injured crew. His remains were handed over to his family upon arrival, while the eight wounded seamen were transferred to medical facilities for treatment. The back-to-back attacks highlight the continued risks faced by commercial shipping and rescue vessels operating in Black Sea waters near Russian ports, where merchant ships have repeatedly come under fire during cargo operations.