Russia’s Transport Ministry later confirmed that an unmanned
vessel attacked the ship. All 23 crew members were rescued, according to
authorities.
Because of the fire, Sochi Mayor Andrei Proshunin
temporarily restricted access to the city’s waterfronts and beaches and urged
residents and tourists not to put themselves in danger. Dmitry Plishkin, head
of the administration of the federal territory of Sirius, said the
concentration of pollutants in the air was reportedly within normal limits.
The Agency.Novosti outlet determined that, according to
MarineTraffic, only one oil tanker was near Sochi: the Liberia-flagged AFRAMAX
RIO. The tanker had transmitted coordinates near the settlement of Sirius a day
earlier, and its location matched the site of the fire.
Ukraine imposed sanctions on AFRAMAX RIO in February 2026
over suspicions that the vessel was helping Russia evade sanctions. According
to the BlackSeaNews monitoring group and the Institute of Black Sea Strategic
Studies, the tanker transported Russian oil from Russian ports.