A Russian fuel tanker broke in half during a storm on Sunday, spilling about 1 300 tonnes of oil in the Kerch Strait between the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, a Transport Ministry spokesperson said.
”Around 1 300 tonnes of fuel oil were spilled” after the stern and rear of the Volganeft-139 tanker tore apart in heavy winds in the area, which is divided between Russia and Ukraine, the spokesperson said.
Russian news agencies earlier reported 2 000 tonnes of oil were spilled.
Rescue efforts were being hampered by the harsh weather conditions, but the 13 crew members stranded in the rear end of the ship were not in danger, the spokesperson said.
The spill is an ”environmental disaster”, another official said. ”This problem may take a few years to solve. Fuel oil is a heavy substance and it is now sinking to the seabed,” Oleg Mitvol, deputy head of the state Rosprirodnadzor agency, told Russia’s state-run Vesti-24 channel on Sunday.
”This is a very serious environmental disaster,” he said. ”The wind is now blowing in the direction of Ukraine’s coast, so it is our common problem.”
The tanker was anchored when it broke up and the stern of the ship remained stationary, while the rear end tore off and drifted away.
Three tugboats, two Russian and one Ukrainian, were helping in the rescue, officials said.
Russian television reported that the spill from the tanker, which was carrying 4 000 tonnes of fuel oil, was continuing and that the accident happened in Ukrainian waters.
Russia’s emergency transport agency has opened a crisis centre to coordinate rescue efforts and prosecutors were investigating possible criminal charges on pollution and security breaches, Russian news agencies reported.
The tanker was carrying fuel oil from the southern Russian city of Samara on the Volga River to a port in Ukraine, the reports quoted a Russian official as saying.
The likely effects of the spill were not immediately clear. When the oil tanker Prestige sank off Spain in November 2002, about 64 000 tonnes of fuel oil leaked, causing severe habitat damage to beaches in France, Spain and Portugal. — Sapa-AFP, Reuters