Initially rescued from his drone-hit oil tanker, a Bangladeshi mariner has become stranded on his damaged vessel when he joined a salvage team.

Mahfuzul Islam Plabon, 4th Engineer of the MT Kairos, along with nine other crewmen, has been stranded on the ship for five days. They are facing food shortages and are unable to contact port authorities or the owning firm. The damaged vessel has drifted close to the Bulgarian coast in the meantime.

The MT Kairos was reportedly attacked by Ukrainian drones in the Black Sea on November 28. The damaged tanker was towed near Istanbul anchorage from deep sea on December 1 with a tugboat hired by the ship's Chinese owning firm.

However, when the private tugboat left, the 10 crewmen got stuck on board as they failed to drop anchor because the engine and power system were out of order. The damaged ship drifted towards the Bulgarian coast amid rough weather in the last two days, but local authorities have yet to respond, Plabon told The Daily Star this afternoon through a WhatsApp call.

Three other Bangladeshi crewmen who were earlier rescued along with all 25 crewmen of the Kairos by the Turkish Coast Guard are now returning home by flight, he said.

Two oil tankers came under attack by the Ukrainian navy on the Black Sea off the coast of Turkey on November 28. Four of the 25 crew members on the MT Kairos were Bangladeshis. The MT Karios was empty during the attack and was crossing the Bosphorus en route to the Russian port of Novorossiysk from Egypt's Suez port to load crude oil for China.

All 25 crewmen were taken to Turkey immediately after the attack. Ten out of the 25 crewmen went back to the damaged tanker around 30 nautical miles off the Turkish coast by tugboat on November 30 for inspection and salvaging.

Plabon added, they recovered documents, including crewmen's passports and certificates, handed them to the tugboat crew, and the damaged ship was towed to Istanbul outer anchorage on December 1.

After reaching the Istanbul anchorage, the tugboat left them as they failed to drop anchor, said Plabon, adding that they begged the crew of the tugboat to stay or take them, but they refused.

After the ship drifted close to Bulgaria, they contacted with Bulgarian coast guard over the last two days. But Bulgarian coast guard refused to rescue them, said Plabon.

Meanwhile, the crewmen somehow managed to drop anchor in Bulgarian waters.

Most of their food stock was damaged in heavy rain, and the ten crew are gathered in a small cabin of the burnt out ship, said Plabon, who contacted the leaders of Bangladesh Merchant Marine Officers Association (BMMOA) in Chattogram.

BMMOA General Secretary, Md Shakawat Hossain, said they contacted the International Transport Federation (ITF) in Turkey and Bulgaria for the rescue of the stranded crewmen.