An oil tanker caught fire in the Black Sea on Oct. 6 near the southern Russian city of Sochi. The incident was confirmed by Dmitry Plishkin, head of the nearby Sirius federal territory administration. The vessel, Aframax Rio (IMO: 9273844), sails under the Liberian flag and has called at Russian Black Sea ports, according to Starboard Maritime Intelligence data reviewed by The Insider. The tanker is listed under Ukrainian sanctions and is likely part of Russia’s “shadow fleet,” but it had not been included on U.S. or UK sanctions lists.
Footage of a vessel burning off the coast of Sochi began circulating on social media on the evening of Oct. 6. Ukrainian monitoring channel Exilenova+ was one of the first to post photos and video of an oil tanker on fire in the Black Sea. The independent Russian outlet Astra identified the vessel as the Aframax Rio, a large crude oil tanker.
Starboard Maritime Intelligence data reviewed by The Insider shows that the tanker is owned by Rio Enterprises SA, a company registered in the Marshall Islands. The vessel’s location had not appeared on the service since Sept. 20, 2026, and its last recorded position that day was near the Romanian port of Constanța. In 2026, the tanker was most frequently recorded at ports in Turkey and Egypt, with additional calls in Saudi Arabia, Singapore, and India. In May, the Aframax Rio spent three days at the Russian port of Taman.
According to the VesselFinder service, the tanker transmitted a signal in the Black Sea near Sirius one day before the fire. Russian authorities have not said whether the tanker was carrying oil, with Sirius administration head Plishkin announcing only that:
“A tanker caught fire in the Black Sea. To ensure public safety, the beaches in Sirius will be temporarily closed. Water and air conditions are being monitored continuously together with Roshydromet. I ask residents and visitors to the federal territory to avoid spending long periods outdoors and, where possible, to keep windows closed.”
The pro-Kremlin Telegram channel Mash reported that the captain had requested evacuation for the vessel’s 23 crew members and that “the tanker was carrying crude oil from Novorossiysk to India and was loaded almost to capacity.” The pro-war Telegram channel Dva Mayora (lit. “Two Majors”) suggested that Ukraine may have been involved in the incident, saying the fire had started “likely not without outside interference.” The channel’s authors added that “a huge column of smoke can be seen from hundreds of kilometers away.”
