The ministry said an open oil fire was occurring at sea after the Aframax Rio incident; authorities in Sirius reported precautionary measures along the coast.
Oil was burning openly in the Black Sea after an incident involving the Aframax Rio tanker, Russia’s Transport Ministry told RIA Novosti. The ministry’s brief report did not provide details on the scale of pollution or confirm an oil spill.
Dmitry Plishkin, head of the Sirius federal territory, said a tanker had caught fire off the coast; local outlet Sochi1 reported that beaches were temporarily closed and specialists were monitoring water and air quality. The Insider identified the vessel as the Liberian-flagged Aframax Rio, but noted that officials had not said whether it was carrying oil. The cause of the fire has not been established in the official reports available.