Ship sinks off Bulgaria's Black Sea coast after being hit by drones

SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — A Liberian-flagged vessel that was hit by drones off Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast has sunk, the local maritime administration said Thursday.

Three maritime drones struck the container ship Contship Jet about 21 nautical miles off the coast of Bulgaria on Wednesday, Defense Minister Dimitar Stoyanov said. It was the fifth drone attack in the NATO country’s exclusive economic zone this month.

The Greek-managed container ship was en route from Israel’s port of Haifa to Constanța in Romania. All 18 crew members, 14 Filipinos and four Ukrainians, were rescued by Bulgarian naval and border police vessels and taken to the port city of Varna for medical checks.

Some of the containers on board were carrying lithium-ion batteries, flammable liquids, gases and other hazardous materials, the site maritime.bg reported. Navy teams reported no signs of pollution after taking samples from several locations in Bulgarian territorial waters.

The incident took place as defense ministers from Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey met in the Bulgarian capital, Sofia, to discuss security in the Black Sea region.

In a statement after the talks, the three NATO countries strongly condemned the drone attacks on commercial vessels in the Black Sea and called for an “immediate cessation of attacks that threaten commercial ships, maritime infrastructure and the safety of maritime activities.” They also agreed on stronger intelligence sharing, early warning capabilities and coordination in the Black Sea.

A string of such incidents off the coasts of NATO members Romania and Bulgaria this month has led some alliance members to wonder if Russian President Vladimir Putin is seeking to test their support for Ukraine in its war against Moscow’s full-scale invasion.

Russia has not taken responsibility for the recent attacks, but suspicion has fallen on Moscow. Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev told his country’s Parliament earlier this month that “the logic points in that direction … The problem is that we cannot prove it.”

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said on Oct. 15 on X that the alliance had “strengthened our posture along the eastern flank including with increasing counter-drone capabilities” in the face of increasingly frequent strikes on commercial vessels.

Border police officer talks to saved crew members of the Liberian-flagged container ship Contship Jet, which was attacked by drones, in Varna, Bulgaria, late Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Petko Momchilov)

A crew member of the Liberian-flagged container ship Contship Jet, which was attacked by drones, is evacuated and transported to the port of Varna, Bulgaria, aboard the Bulgarian Navy rescue ship "Proteo", late Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Petko Momchilov)

A crew member of the Liberian-flagged container ship Contship Jet, which was attacked by drones, is evacuated and transported to the port of Varna, Bulgaria, aboard the Bulgarian Navy rescue ship "Proteo", late Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Petko Momchilov)

A crew member of the Liberian-flagged container ship Contship Jet, which was attacked by drones, is evacuated and transported to the port of Varna, Bulgaria, aboard the Bulgarian Navy rescue ship "Proteo", late Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Petko Momchilov)

A crew member of the Liberian-flagged container ship Contship Jet, which was attacked by drones, is evacuated and transported to the port of Varna, Bulgaria, aboard the Bulgarian Navy rescue ship "Proteo", late Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Petko Momchilov)

DoorDash is offering $17 billion to buy Instacart to supercharge its grocery delivery business in what would be a big consolidation in grocery delivery.

DoorDash said the Instacart brand name and app will remain, and Instacart shoppers would be able to continue fulfilling orders as before. Grocers can also choose to work with Instacart or DoorDash. Instacart customers will now have access to 50,000 additional stores covered by DoorDash, the company said.

Instacart, founded in 2012, specializes in grocery and convenience store delivery in the U.S. and Canada. Its 600,000 “shoppers” — who are independent contractors — completed 338 million orders last year, according to company filings. Instacart has a market value of $14 billion.

DoorDash, founded in San Francisco in 2013, began as a restaurant delivery business but has expanded to pet food and electronics. Operating in 40 countries, it completed more than 3 billion orders last year using a network of 9 million independent delivery workers. It has a market value of $73 billion.

DoorDash began delivering groceries in 2020 amid a surge in pandemic-era demand. Grocers were initially cautious. Kroger partnered with the San Francisco company in 2022 but initially allowed the company to deliver only flowers, sushi and prepared meals from a limited number of stores.

The partnership with one of the nation’s largest grocery chains expanded last fall, and DoorDash now lists the full inventory of all 2,700 U.S. Kroger stores in its online marketplace. DoorDash scored another coup last month when it added delivery from Costco.

Tony Xu, co-founder and CEO of DoorDash, said the acquisition will combine Instacart’s expertise in grocery with DoorDash’s expertise in logistics and delivery.

“Grocery is one of the hardest things to get right online. Someone has to pick a ripe avocado, find a substitute you’d choose yourself, and get the ice cream to you before it melts,” Xu said in a statement. “Together, we could give stores of every size more of those tools and unlock the potential of grocery delivery.”

DoorDash’s aggressive market-share gains by have hurt Instacart. Five years ago, Instacart commanded 26% of spending on U.S. delivery platforms; that share has fallen to 18%, according to Consumer Edge, a market research company. DoorDash’s share grew from 44% to 59% in that same period. Uber Eats’ share held steady at just under 20%.

It’s not yet clear what the deal will mean for some partnerships. Instacart offers delivery from Walmart, for example, but DoorDash stopped providing Walmart delivery in 2022.

FILE - A food delivery rider waits at a traffic light, March 30, 2020, in Lone Tree, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)

FILE - An instacart logo and an instacart webpage are seen in New York, Sept. 6, 2023. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)