Greenpeace reports 25-square-kilometer oil slick in Black Sea after drone attack on tanker off Russia’s Sochi coast

An oil slick covering about 25 square kilometers (10 square miles) formed in the Black Sea after naval drones attacked an oil tanker off Sochi, Greenpeace reported after analyzing satellite images.The October 6 attack sparked a major fire. Satellite images showed that on the afternoon of October 7, the tanker was near Lazarevskoye, roughly 50 kilometers (31 miles) from the site of the fire. Environmentalists spotted a trail of petroleum products covering about eight square kilometers (three square miles) on the water’s surface.By noon on October 8, the tanker had moved past Tuapse. Greenpeace spotted a 25-square-kilometer (10-square-mile) oil slick in a satellite image.Russia’s Transport Ministry previously said uncrewed boats had attacked the Liberian-flagged oil tanker off Sochi. The tanker’s 23 crew members were evacuated. Initial reports indicated that the tanker Aframax Rio was carrying crude oil from Novorossiysk to India.On the morning of October 7, Russia’s consumer protection and public health watchdog, Rospotrebnadzor, said there was no pollution in the Black Sea following the tanker fire. Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that “efforts to deal with the aftermath are going well.” Sochi Mayor Andrey Proshunin said that “no pollution from the oil cargo has been detected in the sea so far,” though swimming restrictions have been imposed at Sochi’s beaches.At Meduza, we are committed to transparency about our use of artificial intelligence in the newsroom. The story you’re reading was written by one of our living, breathing journalists and translated from Russian using an AI model configured to follow our strict editorial standards. This translation process is the result of extensive testing and refinements to ensure our English-language coverage is timely and accurate. A Meduza editor reviews every draft before publication.If you find any errors in this translation, please contact us at [email protected].To read Meduza’s exclusive content in English, please subscribe to our newsletter.