The ship’s captain Rajab Ahadov and third officer Mammad Aliyev were first struck by a UAV during a shift change.

Axar.az reports that this was stated by an Azerbaijani survivor of the drone attack on the vessel.

“Our ship came under attack. The first strike by the drone hit Captain Rajab Ahadov and Third Officer Mammad Aliyev while they were changing shifts. We tried to help as much as we could, but we could not manage it,” he said.

According to him, after that, the engine section of the ship was hit three more times.

“Then the engine section was struck three more times. We could not save them in any way. They remained there,” the eyewitness noted.

It should be noted that on the night of June 5, a foreign vessel carrying Azerbaijani citizens came under a drone attack in the Sea of Azov. Five Azerbaijani nationals were killed in the incident.