Officials reported the opening of beaches after the fire on the oil tanker near Sochi.

Beaches in Sochi and the federal territory of "Sirius" have resumed operations. According to monitoring data, no sea pollution has been recorded after the fire on the Aframax Rio oil tanker, authorities reported.

As reported by "Caucasian Knot", no pollution of the Black Sea water area and coastline has been detected after the fire on the Aframax Rio tanker near Sochi, Rosprirodnadzor reported.

As a result of round-the-clock monitoring of the beach strip and marine area, no oil pollution in the sea has been recorded. Data from satellite monitoring also did not reveal any oil product spots in the water area. The results of laboratory tests of sea water samples conducted by Rospotrebnadzor in all areas of the city showed no exceedances of the maximum allowable concentrations of pollutants. All indicators meet established standards. Based on the results obtained, the city operational headquarters decided to open the Sochi beaches, the Sochi administration reported today on its Telegram channel. Monitoring of the state of the sea water, beach strip, and atmospheric air will continue.

Similar data was published by the head of the federal territory "Sirius", Dmitry Plishkin. "According to monitoring data on the state of atmospheric air, the concentrations of pollutants in the federal territory of 'Sirius' are significantly below the maximum allowable levels and do not pose a threat to health. In this regard, a decision was made to open the beaches in the federal territory," he wrote on his Telegram channel.

Recall that the Aframax Rio tanker was sailing under the flag of Liberia with a cargo of crude oil from Novorossiysk to India and, according to sources, was nearly fully loaded. Due to the intense burning of the oil, rescue vessels initially could not safely approach the tanker. Environmentalist Georgy Kavanoyan pointed out that the Aframax Rio has a carrying capacity of 107 thousand tons, while the carrying capacity of the tankers "Volgoneft" that sank in the Kerch Strait was up to five thousand tons each. In his assessment, a significant portion of the oil could have burned during the fire, but there remained a risk of a large amount of oil entering the sea.