AGERPRES special correspondent Oana Ghita reports: Romania wants to establish 'all the facts' surrounding incidents in its territorial waters before issuing an official response, President Nicusor Dan said on Thursday.

'Relatively few hours have passed, and we want to have all the information about exactly what happened. But, obviously, there will be a response from the Romanian state,' the head of state said in Brussels, where he is due to attend a European Council meeting.

Nicusor Dan said he had held a brief discussion with the Bulgarian prime minister on Thursday morning and that the two would meet NATO's secretary general to assess the response to increasingly frequent security challenges in the Black Sea.

'We are concerned about the security situation. There will be a discussion on Ukraine tomorrow, as well as a broader discussion on security, and it is very important to us that our concerns regarding the Black Sea are reflected in the conclusions of the debate and, subsequently, that the European Union supports the civilian security centre we want to establish together with Bulgaria,' he said.

The president recalled that a Black Sea command had been hosted by Turkey for several years.

'There is a discussion about making this command rotational, and rotation could mean either the command itself or both the command and its location. We would like the location to rotate as well. This is one of the issues we are discussing within NATO,' the head of state explained.

He stressed the need to gather further information about the incidents.

'It will not be long before we provide definitive information. I do not want to speculate too much at this stage,' he said.

According to the president, the Black Sea region is mentioned in the draft European Council conclusions at Romania's proposal.

'Following these incidents, there may be a slight strengthening of the conclusions at the proposal of Romania and Bulgaria. Broadly speaking, this concerns the need for additional equipment in the Black Sea region and making this civilian security centre operational, an EU project led by Romania and Bulgaria,' he added.

The president also reiterated Romania's desire for a stronger Allied presence.

'This is being discussed both within the EU and within NATO. Obviously, every country wants a stronger Allied presence on its territory for deterrence purposes, and that is what we are constantly doing - requesting it,' Nicusor Dan said.

On Wednesday evening, the Romanian Agency for Saving Human Life at Sea intervened to assist a Comoros-flagged vessel near Sulina after it reported a fire on board. According to Adrian Mihalcioiu, leader of the Free Union of Seafarers, the vessel had been targeted in attacks in the Sulina anchorage.

On Thursday morning, the Maritime Coordination Centre of the Romanian Naval Authority (ANR) launched an emergency search and rescue (SAR) operation following a serious incident reported in the Black Sea, approximately 13 nautical miles south-east of Sulina, which left eight people missing, the ANR announced.

The San Marino-flagged vessel Wide Trader issued a distress alert on Thursday morning reporting a fire in its superstructure, prompting Romanian authorities to launch a search and rescue operation. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Oana Ghita; EN - writing by: Simona Iacob)