On December 15, two Russian tankers ran aground during a storm in the Kerch Strait, separating Russia and Crimea.
“The volume of polluted soil could reach 200,000 tonnes,” Natural Resources Minister Alexander Kozlov said on Monday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin admitted on Thursday that it was a “ecological disaster”. On December 15, two Russian tankers ran aground during a storm in the Kerch Strait separating Russia from the Ukrainian Crimean peninsula that it annexed in 2014. The ships were carrying 9,200 tons of fuel oil, of which about 40% was could have spilled into the sea, according to Russian authorities. This Monday, Minister of Natural Resources Alexandre Kozlov indicated that “the volume of polluted soil could reach 200,000 tonnes”during a meeting of which a video extract was broadcast by the Zvezda channel on Telegram.
The black fuel oil was deposited on dozens of kilometers of beaches in the Krasnodar region, in southwest Russia. The seaside resort of Anapa, popular with tourists, was particularly affected. The port city of Kerch, in annexed Crimea, also saw blocks of fuel oil arriving on its shores, according to images released by the authorities.
This Monday, according to images published by the governor, volunteers in white protective gear were working to rid the beaches of the Krasnodar region of viscous clusters of fuel oil brought by the current. But so that their labor is not “vain”we will have to work as quickly as possible at sea, “where is the source of the pollution”Veniamine Kondratiev said on Telegram. “The volunteers said that last night almost everything was cleaned up, but during the night the waves deposited fuel oil again”he said.
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The authorities also released images of birds stained with fuel oil, being treated by volunteers. Ten dolphins could also have been killed by the oil spill, the specialized Delpha center estimated on Sunday, specifying that analyzes were necessary to confirm the cause of their death. “This is an extremely alarming situation”warned on Telegram this scientific institution which protects dolphins in the Black Sea.
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