Authorities in Finland said they are preparing for a potential oil spill in the Gulf of Finland after Russian officials reported an explosion aboard an oil tanker in the northwestern Leningrad region.

A 22-year-old suezmax tanker suffered an engine room explosion in the Russian port of Ust Luga on Sunday, forcing its crew to leave the vessel and go ashore. The incident took place in the morning of 9 February, during engine start-up of the 164,500-dwt Koala (built 2003), according to the governor of Leningrad region Alexander Drozdenko.

The Finnish Border Guard has dispatched patrol aircraft to the Gulf of Finland following an accident involving the Koala oil-laden tanker in the Russian port of Ust-Luga. Source: Yle, Finnish public service media company Quote: "The Border Guard is sending patrol aircraft to the Gulf of Finland due to an emergency involving the Koala oil-laden

The tanker, built in 2023 and sailing under the Antigua and Barbuda flag, had arrived at Ust-Luga on Feb. 6, according to ship-tracking data from Vesselfinder. Russia’s Baza Telegram channel reported that the vessel was carrying 130,

Poland is finally set to move a Russian tanker stuck at the port of Gdynia for nearly eight years. The 22,700-dwt Khatanga (built 1987) arrived at the port for repairs in 2017, but was stranded by the bankruptcy of its Russian owner Murmansk Shipping Co three years later.