Tanker Aframax Rio Catches Fire off Sochi

Crude tanker AFRAMAX RIO caught fire and spilled oil in the Black Sea off Sochi, Russia, on October 6, 2026. The fire broke out at sea.

Baird Maritime described the tanker as Liberian-flagged. All 23 crew on board were rescued; Baird Maritime reported they were Indian nationals. Kyiv Post cited Ukrainian officials attributing the incident to an unmanned vessel. The Maritime Executive reported the cause as unclear and noted Ukraine had not claimed the attack.

Tracking searches on MarineRadar spiked 29-fold that day. Twenty-nine unique devices recorded the tanker in the 24 hours after the fire broke out, up from a single device the previous day. Two map cells on the Black Sea coast near Sochi also broke out: one in the sea off Adler, one across the Maykopsky District.

The fire came one day after the cargo ship Royad Mammadov was sunk by Russian drones in Romania's Black Sea zone, a separate attack that unfolded further west along the same coast.