By
August 14, 2026 / 4:51 PM EDT
/ CBS News
Add CBS News on Google
A Russian tanker carrying millions of gallons of oil has run aground off the coast of Oman — and now risks breaking apart, potentially causing an environmental disaster on the scale of the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill.The Caroline Bezengi, which has been linked to Russia's so-called shadow fleet to move sanctioned oil around the world, was damaged by an unexplained explosion on June 8. The tanker had departed Russia, traveled through the Suez Canal and entered the Gulf of Oman when its crew abandoned ship, according to John Amos, whose environmental nonprofit SkyTruth has been tracking the ship for weeks. Left adrift, it eventually grounded on a rocky outcropping near a small, uninhabited island.Satellite images showed the first signs of an oil leak on June 30, Amos said. He estimates that hundreds of thousands of gallons had spilled by Aug. 7. Five of the tanker's six cargo holds were filled with oil, Amos said, meaning the vessel could have been carrying as much as 40 million gallons.
