Russian authorities plan to impose federal-level emergency after oil spills continue washing shore of the Black Sea. Over the past week, the regional and local emergency services are working to remove residue. The thousands of volunteers have also struggled to clean up the area. On Wednesday, the southern Krasnodar region declared a regional state emergency.
The Moscow-backed head of annexed Crimea, Sergei Aksyonov said, “Yesterday, together with all my colleagues, we discussed the situation, and by the decision of the leader [President Vladimir Putin], it will be assigned the status of a federal emergency.” The Delfa dolphin rescue centre said the oil may have killed 21 dolphins.
The spill occurred on Dec. 15 when storm damaged two Russian oil tankers: the Volgoneft-212 and the Volgoneft-239. It released thousands of tons of mazut, heavy fuel oil, into the Black Sea near Kerch strait. The strait separates southern Russia from peninsula of Crimea. As per emergency officials report on Monday, it has contaminated 55 kilometers (34 miles) of coastline.
On Wednesday, a scientist, Viktor Danilov raised severe concerns. He said that fuel oil had polluted at least 200,000 tons of soil along the Black Sea following the tanker accident near Kerch Strait. Danilov said during press conference, “It will grow. There is no doubt about it because the fuel oil remains in the sea and in fairly large quantities.” He added, “It will continue to wash up onto the cleaned shore. It will need to be cleaned a second, or third time. We need to prepare for this.”
Furthermore, he addressed the issue of lack of equipment and untrained volunteers. “There are no bulldozers, no trucks. Practically no heavy machinery,” Viktor Danilov reported. He also warned about the tourism crisis as there are not many places with warm beaches in the country. Last week, President Putin criticised the oil tankers’ captain for this unauthorized venture.
