Oil tanker burns off coast of Sochi, blanketing the city in black smoke
Residents of Sochi reported a fire aboard a vessel in the Black Sea. “The fire is visible from all along the coast,” one local resident told the Telegram news channel Ostorozhno, Novosti.
Videos and photos posted online show thick black smoke rising over the city.
Smoke from the fire blanketed the sky over central Sochi.
The social media page ChP Sochi said the vessel was in international waters and may have been attacked by naval drones.
Regional authorities have not yet commented on the incident. The cause of the fire is unknown.
The Telegram channel Mash said the tanker burning near Sochi was carrying oil from Novorossiysk to India. The channel identified the vessel as the Liberian-flagged Aframax Rio. Astra gave the same account. The outlet said the tanker is not on the sanctions lists of the EU or Ukraine’s allies but is on Ukraine’s sanctions lists as a vessel in Russia’s “shadow fleet.”
Soon afterward, Dmitry Plishkin, who heads the administration of the Sirius federal territory, said its beaches would close temporarily because of the tanker fire. He asked residents to “avoid spending long periods outdoors and, if possible, keep windows closed.”
“Water and air quality are being monitored continuously in cooperation with Roshydromet [Russia’s hydrometeorological agency],” Plishkin said.
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