Three Bulgarian ministries have launched checks after fuel oil contamination was reported on a growing number of beaches along the Black Sea coast. More than 21 alerts were filed within a 24-hour period from beaches near Sozopol and Tsarevo, while similar reports later emerged from the northern coastline, including the Romantica and Kamchia beach areas.
The Ministry of Tourism has requested immediate information from the responsible institutions and stated that beach concessionaires will be required to clean the affected areas. At the same time, inspections carried out by the Maritime Administration found no active pollution on the surface of the sea. Nevertheless, fuel oil deposits continued washing ashore, reaching additional beaches throughout the day.
One of the latest affected locations was Coral Beach, where visitors discovered black oily residues scattered across the sand and among seaweed. Beachgoers described unpleasant encounters with the contamination.
“My feet were covered in fuel oil,” said visitor Ventsislav Atanasov. “It comes off relatively easily with oil, but it’s disgusting. It’s terrible. There were even white puppies that ended up looking like Dalmatians.”
Other tourists said they were trying to avoid the dark patches while walking along the beach. “I watch where the spots are and try to jump over them,” one visitor explained, while another described the situation as alarming, particularly because the area is known as one of the wilder and cleaner stretches of Bulgaria’s coastline.
