All detected spots of sea pollution from tanker wrecks cleaned up - Russian Transport Ministry
KRASNODAR. Dec 28 (Interfax) - All detected spots of sea pollution from the wreck of the Volgoneft 212 and Volgoneft 239 tankers in the Kerch Strait have been cleaned up, the Russian Transport Ministry said on Telegram.
"Since the accident of the Volgoneft tankers, vessels of the Maritime Rescue Service [...] have examined over 380.3 square kilometers of waters and have cleaned up 29,400 square meters. As of now, all detected spots of sea pollution have been cleaned up, and no repeat pollution has been found. Specialists are conducting round-the-clock environmental monitoring of the sea surface, including analysis of satellite images," the ministry said.
At the same time, new spots of fuel oil were detected in the Anapka River area over the day, they were cleaned up manually. Additional containment booms were installed in the area to keep petroleum products away from the river estuary, it said.
Specialists are cleaning up the beach.
The weather has allowed resuming examination of the Black Sea bed and diving. Specialists are examining parts of the wrecked tankers.
On December 15, two tankers, Volgoneft 212 and Volgoneft 239, carrying fuel oil crashed in the Kerch Strait, killing one crewmember. All others were evacuated. The incident led to an oil spill.
The contaminated beach line extended to 54 kilometers.
A check conducted by the Federal Service for Supervision of Transport (Rostransnadzor) found that both vessels were traversing the Kerch Strait in violation of the seasonal navigation restrictions. A number of tankers owned by Volgatransneft were not licensed to carry hazardous cargo by inner water and sea routes, the Transport Ministry said.
Rescuers and volunteers have cleaned up 30,000 tonnes of oil-polluted soil from the Black Sea coast after the accidents. Specialists believe the volumes may eventually grow to 200,000 tonnes.
On December 25, Krasnodar Territory governor Veniamin Kondratyev declared a regional emergency and on December 26, a governmental commission led by Emergency Situations Minister Alexander Kurenkov decided to declare it a federal emergency.
