Russian officials warned of serious environmental damage on Wednesday as thousands turned out to clean up tons of fuel oil that spilled more than two weeks ago from two storm-hit tankers in the Kerch Strait near Moscow-occupied Crimea.
More than 10,000 people, mostly volunteers, competed in wildlife rescue and removal tons of sand saturated with fuel oila heavy, low-quality petroleum product, according to Russian reports.
Authorities in Russia’s southern Krasnodar region declared a regional state of emergency last week as fuel oil washed ashore for 10 days. one tanker ran aground and the other remained damaged and adrift on 15 December.
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The move came days after Russian President Vladimir Putin called the oil spill an “ecological disaster”.
On Wednesday, New Year’s Day, Krasnodar officials said oil was still surfacing on the beaches of Anapa, a popular local resort.
More than 71,000 tons of contaminated sand and soil have been removed from 56 kilometers (35 miles) of coastline since the original spill, Russia’s Emergency Situations Ministry said Wednesday morning.
On December 23, the ministry estimated that up to 200,000 tons may have been contaminated in total.
Some Russian media critical of the Kremlin have quoted Russian volunteers as saying that state support has been insufficient as they deal with the aftermath of the leak. Some reported experiencing headaches, nausea and vomiting after spending hours inhaling toxic fumes and complained of inadequate equipment and protective measures.
Others called for the dispatch of international specialists, citing the scale of the leak and the likely scope of the impact.
Photos circulating on social media and local news channels showed seabirds smeared with black fuel oil.
The spill may have killed more than 20 dolphins, the local dolphin rescue center said, adding that tests were underway to determine the cause of death.
The Kerch Strait separates the Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula from Russia and is an important global shipping route that provides passage from the inland Sea of Azov to the Black Sea.
After Moscow, it was also a key point of conflict between Russia and Ukraine annexed the peninsula in 2014. In 2016, Ukraine took Moscow to the Permanent Court of Arbitration, accusing Russia of trying to illegally control the region. In 2021, Russia closed the strait for several months.
Mykhajlo Podoljak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi’s chief of staff, last month called the oil spill a “large-scale environmental disaster” and called for more sanctions against Russian tankers.