23 Indian seafarers reported safe after Ukrainian drone attack sets fire to oil tanker off Russian coast

MOSCOW: A fire broke out on a Liberian-registered oil tanker manned entirely by an Indian crew off the Russian Black Sea coastline following a Ukrainian drone strike, as stated by the Russian Transport Ministry.

According to the ministry, the vessel was targeted by “naval drones”, which subsequently ignited crude oil within the Black Sea. The blaze raged with such intensity that emergency responders were initially unable to suppress the flames.

The Russian Transport Ministry stated that firefighters would attempt to extinguish the fire once its severity subsided.

All 23 crew members were successfully evacuated following the assault, the ministry confirmed.

The event transpired close to Sochi, a prominent Russian Black Sea resort destination with a population approaching 500,000.

Footage shared across social media platforms captured intense orange flames blazing over the water, accompanied by a dense plume of black smoke billowing near Sochi.

This tanker strike occurred a day after a separate vessel, the commercial ship MV ROYAD MAMMADOV, burned and sank off the Romanian coast in an incident resulting in two foreign fatalities and injuries to crew members, including three Indian nationals.