Oil spill threatens environmental disaster off Omani coast

DPAThu, August 6, 2026 at 5:03 PM UTC1 min readAdd Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google.Key takeawaysPowered by Yahoo Scout. Yahoo is using AI to generate key points from this article. This means the info may not always match what’s in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience.

• An oil tanker named Caroline Bezengi has run aground off the coast of Oman, leaking increasing quantities of oil into the sea.
• The oil slick from the tanker now covers an area of around 600 square kilometres in an ecologically sensitive region, putting coral reefs, sea turtles, migratory birds, and marine mammals at risk.
• The Caroline Bezengi, believed to be part of Russia's shadow fleet and subject to EU sanctions, likely loaded oil at the Russian port of Novorossiysk and was heading for a port in India before suffering an incident at sea in early June.

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An environmental disaster is looming off the coast of Oman due to an oil tanker that has run aground, satellite images have revealed.

Images show increasing quantities of oil are leaking from the 270-metre-long tanker Caroline Bezengi, which is believed to be part of Russia's so-called shadow fleet.

The oil slick has now grown to cover an area of around 600 square kilometres, the environmental organization Greenpeace said on Wednesday.

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The Caroline Bezengi is located in an ecologically sensitive region off the Omani coast. According to Greenpeace, coral reefs, sea turtles, migratory birds and marine mammals are among other species at risk.

The waters around the protected islands in the area, where seabirds breed and turtles lay their eggs, are also home to the rare Arabian humpback whale.

The tanker, which is subject to EU sanctions, likely loaded oil at the Russian port of Novorossiysk, according to the geodata company Synmax, which analysed satellite images.

It is believed to have suffered an incident at sea in early June and subsequently ceased transmitting location data. Reports suggest the tanker was heading for a port in India.

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There has been speculation as to whether Ukraine might have attacked the vessel with a mine. The country has attacked vessels belonging to Russia's 'shadow fleet' on several occasions.

However, as Oman is a long way from Ukraine, such an attack would be logistically difficult to carry out.

Oman's Ministry of Transport has already called on the owners to remove the vessel and its cargo from the area.

According to reports, it is owned by a company in China which - as with other vessels in the shadow fleet - is said to be linked to a shell company in Shanghai.