Federal emergency to be declared due to fuel oil spill in Kerch Strait - Crimea head

SIMFEROPOL. Dec 26 (Interfax) - A federal emergency will be declared due to the fuel oil spill from wrecked tankers in the Kerch Strait, Crimea head Sergei Aksyonov said on the Crimea 24 television channel on Thursday.

"We talked with all colleagues yesterday. The situation will have the status of a federal emergency as decided by the leader [Russian President Vladimir Putin]," Aksyonov said.

Russian Emergency Situations Minister Alexander Kurenkov will chair a meeting of the emergency commission, where the decision will be made. Federal funds will be allotted for cleaning up the fuel oil spill, Aksyonov said.

It was reported earlier on Thursday that Kurenkov came to Anapa in the Krasnodar Territory to monitor the cleanup of the spill from the two wrecked tankers. The Krasnodar Territory declared an emergency on Tuesday.

Crimea, where fuel oil has been washed ashore since December 21, has a municipal emergency in Kerch and a risk of municipal emergency in the adjoining Leninsky district.

The Volgoneft 212 and Volgoneft 239 tankers loaded with fuel oil wrecked in the Kerch Strait on December 15. One crewmember died, and the others were evacuated.