A tanker is on fire near Sochi. A huge column of smoke rose over the Black Sea

There was a fire on the ship in the Black Sea. Residents of Sochi reported this. According to eyewitnesses, the fire can be seen from all over the coast.

According to the Mash Telegram channel, we are talking about the Aframax Rio oil tanker, which drifted off the coast for several days. According to the authors of the channel, the captain managed to request the evacuation of 23 crew members.

“Today at about 18:00 the fire engulfed the entire Aframax Rio. The tanker was carrying crude oil from Novorossiysk to India and was loaded almost to capacity,” the authors of the channel claim.

The first minutes of the fire were caught on video

Footage taken by eyewitnesses shows a fire blazing in the Black Sea. A wide column of black smoke rose from it.

Residents of the city said they did not hear any loud explosions. The Telegram channel “ChP Sochi” writes that the ship could have been attacked by unmanned boats.

“There was a fire on board. A rescue operation is now being carried out in particularly dangerous conditions,” say the channel’s authors.

Other footage clearly shows the ship on which the fire broke out.

There are no details available at this time about the condition of the crew, the casualties or the extent of the damage.

The issue of safety of navigation in the Black Sea was raised during contacts between Putin and Erdogan

Kremlin official Dmitry Peskov previously said that Türkiye voiced its proposal to Moscow and Kyiv regarding ensuring the safety of navigation in the Black Sea. The issue was discussed during negotiations between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

“The issue was indeed raised by our Turkish partners during recent contacts between President Putin and President Erdogan in Bishkek and subsequently appeared in the relevant diplomatic correspondence,” said the Russian leader’s press secretary.

Peskov noted that the situation with grain supplies through the Black Sea has become significantly more complicated due to the actions of Ukraine, however, attacks on ships in the Black Sea will cause a natural response from Russia.