Drone crashes in Romania’s Tulcea County

A drone crashed on Friday, August 14, in the area of Luncaviţa, a locality in eastern Romania’s Tulcea County, about five kilometers from the border with Ukraine, the Defense Ministry (MApN) announced.

The drone crashed in a wooded area and caused no casualties, according to preliminary information provided by MApN.

The drone was not detected by MApN’s radar surveillance systems as it was flying at a very low altitude, the ministry said.

The crash resulted in an explosion followed by a fire, which has been extinguished, the Emergency Situations Inspectorate of Tulcea announced.

A MApN team, using an IAR 330 PUMA SOCAT helicopter, will investigate the area.

A day earlier, drone remains were discovered in the sea, close to Romania’s Costinești beach, on the Black Sea shore. Five drones were tracked nearing Romanian territory on the night of Wednesday, August 12, to Thursday, August 13, around 1 AM. One drone briefly entered Romanian airspace in Tulcea County but then exited and headed to Ukraine. Another drone was detected in Romanian airspace around 9 AM. Earlier this week, two Gerbera-type droneswere destroyed by divers of the Romanian Army in the exclusive economic zone, approximately 165 kilometers from Constanța, in the Neptun Deep exploitation area.

At the end of the August 14 government meeting, prime minister Ilie Bolojan said the country’s military was doing “everything in their power to combat the drones.”

“We have a reality that we cannot deny, namely that the war resulting from Russia’s aggression against Ukraine is having an impact, including along our borders, and we can expect drone debris, drones reaching the river areas along Romania’s border, in the vicinity of ports, to stray into Romania,” the PM said.

“It is regrettable that we are facing such situations, but given what has happened in recent months, we are beginning to see that this is becoming something of a constant; it is not just in Romania, we have seen what has happened in other areas as well. It is becoming clear that equipping our Armed Forces as quickly as possible with counter-drone systems is a necessity,” he added.