Oil Tanker Aframax Rio Ablaze Off Sochi After Naval Drone Attack

The Aframax Rio tanker fire off Sochi erupted on Tuesday after the Liberian-flagged oil tanker was struck by an unmanned naval vessel, Russian authorities said, in the latest escalation of drone attacks on commercial shipping in the Black Sea.

FAKTA

• What: The Liberian-flagged oil tanker Aframax Rio was set ablaze off Sochi by an unmanned vessel, Russia’s Transport Ministry said.
• Crew: All 23 crew members, Indian nationals, were rescued; no injuries were reported.
• Cargo and route: The tanker was carrying crude oil from Novorossiysk, Russia, to India.
• Response: Firefighters battled the blaze as crude oil burned openly in the sea; beaches near Sirius were closed as a precaution.
• Wider picture: The attack came hours after drone strikes sank one ship and set another ablaze in Bulgaria’s exclusive economic zone.

Aframax Rio tanker fire off Sochi

Russia’s Transport Ministry said in a statement on Telegram that the Aframax Rio was attacked by a naval drone off the coast of Sochi. Emergency crews rescued the tanker’s 23-member crew, all Indian nationals, and reported no injuries.

The ministry said the fire was initially difficult to approach because of its intensity, and that crude oil was burning openly in the waters of the Black Sea, sending thick black smoke far across the water. Firefighters continued to battle the blaze with additional resources.

Regional authorities in Sirius, in Russia’s southern Krasnodar region, closed nearby beaches to the public as a precaution while air and water conditions were monitored.

Black Sea shipping under growing pressure

The Sochi attack came on the same day that sea and aerial drones struck two commercial vessels inside Bulgaria’s exclusive economic zone, about 70 nautical miles off the coast near Byala. The Togo-flagged cargo ship Alfa Watan suffered critical damage and sank, and its crew was reported missing; the Palau-flagged Able, carrying wheat, caught fire and its 18 crew members were rescued by a Bulgarian ferry; two of the rescued sailors were seriously injured and were flown to a hospital in Varna.

Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev condemned the attack as a flagrant violation of international maritime law and convened an emergency meeting of defence, interior, transport and environment officials. A day earlier, another cargo ship caught fire and sank off Romania’s coast in what Ukraine said was a Russian drone attack, killing one sailor and leaving another missing.

Maritime security analysts say the attacks mark a significant escalation in the threat to commercial shipping in the western Black Sea, with strikes now reaching the exclusive economic zones of NATO members.

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