The Hindu : International : Fierce storm in Black Sea strait splits oil tanker into two

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Monday, Nov 12, 2007
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International

Fierce storm in Black Sea strait splits oil tanker into two

Thousands of tonnes of fuel spill

ROSTOV-ON-DON (Russia): An oil tanker split in two during a fierce storm early Sunday, spilling at least 2,000 metric tonnes of fuel into a strait leading to the Black Sea in one of the worst environmental disasters in the region in years, authorities said.

Two freighters carrying sulfur also sank nearby in the Strait of Kerch, a narrow strait linking the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov to the northeast, after being battered by 18-feet waves, said Sergei Petrov, spokesman for the regional branch of Russia’s Emergency Situations Ministry.

Rescuers saved all crew members from one of the freighters but eight sailors from the second vessel were missing.

The Russian tanker’s 13 crew members were rescued, said emergency authorities.

The oil tanker, the Volganeft-139 — loaded with about 4,000 metric tonnes (1.3 million gallons) of fuel oil — was stranded several km from shore. Stormy weather was preventing emergency workers from collected the spilled oil, authorities said.

“There is serious concern that the spill will continue,” Oleg Mitvol, head of the state environmental safety watchdog Rosprorodnadzor said on Vesti 24 television.

He said it would take “several years” to clean up the spill.

Two barges loaded with fuel oil also ran aground in the area but there was no leak, Petrov told The Associated Press.

A Turkish freighter, Ziya Kos, also ran aground, he said.

Vesti 24 also reported the sinking of a Russian freighter carrying metal near the port of Sevastopol on Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula. Two members of its 16-man crew drowned and one was missing, it said.

Maxim Stepanenko, a regional prosecutor, told Vesti 24 that captains had been warned on Saturday about the stormy conditions.

He said the oil tanker — designed during Soviet times to transport oil on rivers — was not built to withstand a fierce storm. — AP

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