Ukraine–Russia

Accounts on X report an oil tanker burning off Sochi in the Russian Black Sea port and identify it as a shadow fleet vessel

This version is a correction.

ATTACK
Location
Off Sochi, Russian Black Sea coast (port reference; tanker position not reported)
Actors
Russia
Importance
Standard

An account posting open source footage reported a large fire in the port area of Sochi on the Russian Black Sea coast at about 15:49 UTC on 6 October. Follow up posts in the same thread said the burning vessel was an oil tanker reportedly hit, without naming who hit it or with what. A second account identified the vessel as the Aframax Rio, flying the Liberian flag and carrying crude from Novorossiysk to India. According to that account the captain asked for the 23 crew members to be evacuated, no deaths or injuries have been reported, and beaches in Sochi were closed while the vessel kept burning.

Reported by X accounts. The cause of the fire was not established.

X · @Osinttechnicalunverified

Video retrieved from the thread that reported the fire in Sochi. This entry did not check what the footage itself shows.

Credit @Osinttechnical ·

Play contacts video.twimg.com directly.

X · @GlobalynReportunverified

Video retrieved from the thread that reported the fire in Sochi. This entry did not check what the footage itself shows.

Credit @GlobalynReport ·

Play contacts video.twimg.com directly.

Verification: unverified

Evidence: Massive fire reported in the Russian Black Sea port city of Sochi this evening, The burning tanker off Sochi has turned out to be part of Russia’s “shadow fleet”

The fire was reported by two X accounts. Neither gave a cause for it. The first account supplied the footage and said only that the tanker was reportedly hit. The vessel identification and the crew account come from the second account. No Russian official statement or port authority report was available.