Kerchi Strait contaminated with oil / Photo: Artem Firsov / Alamy / Alamy / Profimedia
The oil spilled as a result of the sinking of two Russian oil tankers in the Kerch Strait has reached the coast of the Sea of Azov, in the Zaporizhia region, and volunteers have collected a ton of fuel oil residues in Berdiansk, in occupied Ukraine. on Saturday, Vladimir told the Russian agency TASS Stelmacenko, local deputy and director of the commercial seaport.
“Because multidirectional winds and, more importantly, multidirectional currents operate in the Kerchi Strait, this oil reached not only the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus – Anapa and so on – but, unfortunately, also reached the waters of the Sea of Azov. Consequently, together with these currents that bring everything to our shores, we have organized one voluntary action in Berdiansk (…) and we probably collected more than a ton of these lumps of fuel oil, probably on a distance of less than two kilometers”, Vladimir Stelmacenko told the Russian news agency TASS, according to News. ro.
He emphasized that “the spillage of oil on the beach is quite large”.
The cleaning operation was carried out on the beach near the sanatorium that existed from the period of the USSR, but the local elected says that the oil has already reached the beaches of the entire “high part” of the city of Berdiansk.
Stelmacenko explained that the fuel penetrated at least 20-30 centimeters into the sand. “Unlike oil, gasoline, crude oil, fuel oil does not float on the surface of water. It thickens and becomes liquid when it is very hot. Then it begins to flow at the temperature above at 35 degrees, I think, it becomes plasticine and becomes saturated with sand. It is not on the surface of the water, but the current and the waves break it along the bottom towards the beaches,” the official said.
He added that, in his opinion, “the problem requires a cardinal solution, with the involvement of many technical means and many people”, because the length of the polluted coast in the Zaporizhia region is quite large.
Putin to Russian officials: “Not enough is being done”
On Thursday, Russian leader Vladimir Putin expressed regret and said more needs to be done to clean up the Black Sea oil spill from two Russian ships, saying efforts so far appear insufficient to tackle the ecological disaster. “From what I see and from the information I receive, I come to the conclusion that everything that is done to minimize the damage is not enough,” the Kremlin leader told government officials.
Oil leaked from two obsolete ships after they were damaged by a storm on December 15 in the Kerch Strait. One sank and the other failed. About 2,400 tons of oil products spilled into the sea, Russian investigators said last week, in what Putin called Thursday “one of the most serious environmental challenges” Russia has faced in recent years.
At the time of the disaster, state media reported that the damaged tankers, both more than 50 years old, were carrying a total of about 62,000 barrels (9,200 tons) of petroleum products.
Since the spill, thousands of staff and volunteers from the Ministry of Emergencies have worked to clear tons of sand and contaminated soil on both sides of the Kerch Strait.
Environmental groups have reported deaths of dolphins, porpoises and seabirds.
The Kerch Strait connects the Black Sea with the Sea of Azov and separates the Kerch Peninsula of the annexed Ukrainian region of Crimea from Russia’s Krasnodar Region.
