Oil from two damaged Russian tanker ships has been found on beaches in annexed Crimea, Russian authorities said Thursday, as volunteers heighten efforts to attend to the ecological fallout.The tankers, Volgoneft-212 and Volgoneft-239, were struck by a storm last month in the Kerch Strait, which links the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea near Crimea and Russias Krasnodar region.The vessels brought 9,200 tons of heavy fuel oil, with an approximated 40% of the cargo spilling into the sea.
Russian President Vladimir Putin described the incident as an environmental disaster.Two websites of oil item pollution were detected in Crimea, Russias Emergency Situations Ministry stated, mentioning contamination near Kerch and further south by Tobechytske Lake.Authorities said they have gotten rid of nearly 73,000 lots of oil-contaminated sand from beaches along the Russian coast, with the total amount of polluted sand and soil approximated at 200,000 tons.
Cleanup efforts include volunteers in protective fits manually scooping oil-soaked sand in locations such as Anapa, a popular resort city.The Emergency Situations Ministry reported that 2,100 birds have actually been saved so far, though ecologists and scientists have slammed the clean-up operation for insufficient equipment and techniques.