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Oil tanker with 23 Indian crew members on fire after Ukraine drone attack off Russia coast; all rescued
The Liberian-flagged tanker caught fire after being hit by “naval drones”, sending thick black smoke over the resort city of Sochi.
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A Ukrainian drone attack on an oil tanker off Russia’s southern coast on Tuesday evening put 23 Indian crew members on board at risk, but all of them were rescued, Russia’s transport ministry said.
The Liberian-flagged tanker caught fire after being hit by “naval drones”, sending thick black smoke over the resort city of Sochi, news agency AFP reported.
The incident comes amid growing attacks on commercial shipping in the Black Sea since the Russia-Ukraine war began in 2022. In recent days, Russia has also struck grain vessels carrying Ukrainian goods near the coast of Romania, an EU member state.
Huge fire breaks out off Sochi coast
Several purported videos and photographs shared on social media showed bright orange flames burning offshore, with thick black smoke rising into the sky over Sochi.
Access to the coastline and beaches was being restricted after the blaze, the city's mayor said in a social media post. Sochi, a popular resort destination on Russia’s southern coast, has nearly 5,00,000 residents and draws large numbers of visitors to its beaches.
The intensity of the fire prevented firefighters from tackling the blaze, the transport ministry said.
HT could not independently verify the authenticity of the video.
Black Sea shipping caught in war
Commercial shipping in and around the Black Sea has increasingly come under attack since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Just last month, Russia also targeted grain vessels carrying Ukrainian goods near the coast of Romania, an EU member state. Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said at the time that one of the vessels was carrying Ukrainian grain to Egypt and was hit by a Russian missile overnight, shortly after leaving Ukrainian territorial waters. There were no casualties, he added.
Ukraine has defended its strikes on Russian oil infrastructure as retaliation for Moscow’s repeated attacks on Ukrainian towns and cities. Both Moscow and Kyiv have threatened to step up their strikes in recent weeks.
Russia has recently intensified attacks on key bridges in Kyiv and launched daytime drone strikes in the capital, a tactic that has caused major traffic disruptions.
Previous Ukrainian strikes on oil facilities in southern Russia have led to oil slicks, beach closures and reports of toxic black rain.
