Tankers Suspected in Crimean Bridge Drone Attack Linked to Mediterranean Ports

The Beks Loyal and Khudayar Yusifzade, two tankers that the hacker group, RaHDit, claims could have been used to launch unmanned boats at the Crimean Bridge, fly the flags of the Marshall Islands and Liberia, respectively, and are registered in Malta and Greece.

According to the Marine Traffic website, the Khudayar Yusifzade left the port of Izmail (Ukraine) on July 5 and arrived in Elefsis (Greece) on July 18. The tanker was built in 2011 and sails under the flag of Liberia.

As for the Beks Loyal, according to the same website, it left the port of Tuzla (a district of Istanbul, Turkiye) on May 13 and arrived in Constanta (Romania) on July 18. The ship was built in 2004 and sails under the flag of the Marshall Islands.

Based on open sources, the port of registration for Khudayar Yusifzade is Valletta (Malta), and the owner is Palmali Gemicilik ve Acentelik AS (Palmali Shipping & Agency).

Beks Loyal's port of registry is Piraeus (Greece), and the owner is Beks Shipmanagement & Trading A.S.

The second ship is significantly larger, measuring 228 meters in length compared to 140 meters.

However, in an interview with Sputnik, a representative of the Beks Shipmanagement & Trading A.S. shipping company claimed that the allegation of the Beks Loyal tanker being involved in the launch of the maritime drones during the Crimean Bridge terror attack was not true.

"At the time of the incident, our vessel was far from that location, and we have data from the international tracking system MarineTraffic. This news is not accurate," said Efe Tunali, director of operations at Beks Shipmanagement & Trading A.S.

He clarified that the tanker was at least 100 miles away from the site of the incident and emphasized that the ship was in no way associated with military activities.

Tunali expressed his concern over the news and emphasized the good cooperation his company has with Russia. He mentioned that the previous and current charterers of the ship are from Russia, and that 90% of their company's activities are in Russia, transporting Russian cargoes. Therefore, he finds it illogical to associate them with the incident.

On the other hand, the fact that the tanker was 100-150 miles away from the bridge does not rule out the possibility of unmanned boats being launched. The screenshot presented by Russia's RaHDit hacker group matches the map they published.

According to open sources, the range of Ukrainian unmanned boats is up to 630 km or 340 nautical miles.

Earlier, the hacker group, RaHDit, published the routes of civilian ships that could have potentially launched the drone boats at the Crimean Bridge.

The hackers' investigation suggests that the operation to unleash the unmanned boats to attack the bridge may have involved two tankers, the Beks Loyal and the Khudayar Yusifzade.

Both tankers had been drifting near the Russian coast in the Black Sea, about 100 km from Novorossiysk, for several days before the incident. The hackers believe that drones were transferred from one of the tankers to the other at that moment. RaHDIt suggests that another ship drifting in direct view of the Crimean Bridge may have been used to control the unmanned boats.

On the night of July 17, Ukraine attacked the Crimean Bridge with two surface drones, killing a couple from the Belgorod region and injuring their 14-year-old daughter. The vehicular section of the bridge was damaged, and two-way traffic on that section will resume in the fall.