As reported by “Agency”, this is AFRAMAX RIO, which sails under the Liberian flag and, according to the publication, is part of Russia’s shadow fleet. In eyewitness video over the sea near Sochi, a large column of smoke is visible, and in the first footage of the fire, it is indeed the burning tanker that can be seen.
“Emergency in Krasnodar and the region” writes that the vessel is burning in neutral waters. Residents quoted by “Careful, news” said they did not hear an explosion before the fire.
The monitoring channel “Sochi Radar” preliminarily linked the fire to an attack by an unmanned boat. This is only a preliminary version, not a confirmed cause of the fire.
According to MarineTraffic, the latest declared route of AFRAMAX RIO began on September 11: the tanker departed from the Turkish port of Tuzla, then anchored off the Turkish city of Samsun and left there on September 19. In AIS, the next destination was listed as Constanța, Romania, with an estimated arrival on September 22, but the vessel is not transmitting a current destination.
According to MarineTraffic data analyzed by “Agency”, there is currently only one oil tanker near Sochi — AFRAMAX RIO. About 23 hours ago it transmitted coordinates in waters near Sirius, a federal territory in Russia, and a local resident said the burning vessel is closer to Sirius.
In February 2026, Ukraine imposed sanctions on AFRAMAX RIO over suspicions that it is being used to evade sanctions against Russia. According to the monitoring group BlackSeaNews and the Black Sea Strategic Studies Institute, the tanker transported Russian oil from Russian ports.
