Following the accident involving two oil tankers near Crimea, a state of emergency has been declared on the Ukrainian peninsula annexed by Russia. He imposed this “because oil products ended up in the Kerch Strait,” Moscow-appointed Governor Sergei Aksyonov said via Telegram on Saturday.
However, Russia’s Transport Ministry announced that “all identified polluted zones” in the Black Sea had been cleaned.
Oil may continue to leak from sunken tankers
No repeat pollution was detected, the Transport Ministry added. However, Emergency Situation Minister Alexander Kurenkov said the risk of oil leaking again from the sunken tankers in the Black Sea still remains.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov spoke of a “really critical” situation, the impact of which on the environment was unfortunately “inevitable”. He called on the government to make “the greatest efforts” to tackle the consequences of the oil spill, especially on the beaches of southwestern Russia, Russian news agencies reported. “Unfortunately, it is currently not possible to determine the extent of damage to the environment,” but specialists are taking care of this task, Peskov added.
In mid-December, two Russian tankers loaded with thousands of tons of oil were severely damaged during a storm in the Kerch Strait, between Crimea and Russia’s Krasnodar region. The tankers are the “Volgoneft-212” and the “Volgoneft-239”. One sailor was killed and 26 crew members were evacuated.
Photos of the accident published online showed dramatic scenes: the “Volgoneft-212” broke into two parts, its stern standing vertically in the water. The ships were carrying 9,200 tons of oil, of which authorities said about 40 percent had leaked into the sea.
Thousands of volunteers took part in the cleaning work on the beaches. However, scientists criticized the lack of equipment to clean up the oil.
Source: Krone
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