When the 28 -year -old volunteer Nikolai entered the sandy beach on the Russian coast of the Black Sea just before New Year’s Eve, he was so impressed by the amount of oil film that he almost broke.
He and other volunteers had the task of erasing the sand soaked with oil, but “The range is just too big,” he said.
Two weeks to the new year and four weeks after the oil escape, President Vladimir V. Putin recognized the extent of the disaster and sent high officials to deal with the greatest oil accident in Russia in recent years, which has tarnished some of the most popular beaches in the country.
The oil was released by two aging Russian tankers that were damaged on December 15 during a strong storm in the Kerch Strait. At least 2400 metric tons of oil were picked into the sea, Russian representatives said.
The unhappiness in the Strait, which separates the Crimean Peninsula from mainland Russia, raised questions whether the vessels were not part of the so -called. shadow fleet which Moscow uses to avoid sanctions against its oil industry and sometimes employ ships in poor conditions.
One of the vessels, Volgoneft-212, was halved and sank, with one crew member perished. The second, Volgoneft-239, drove to the shallows near the port of Taman. A total of 9,000 tons of heavy heating oil were loaded on both vessels, and the authorities now work not only to clean the shores, but also to detain other leaks from the ship that has been shallow.
Russian leaders originally argued that the escape was under control, but soon after the disaster the Black Sea was reported on the whole Russian coast of the Black Sea.
Sunday the government said She allocated another 1.5 billion rubles (about $ 15.3 million) for cleaning, with her money from her reserve fund. Three days earlier, Mr. Putin ordered a report on the state of the Russian tanker fleet and also asked the Deputy Prime Minister to review Russian legislation on oil transport by sea and rivers and look at “scientific progress in removing similar disasters,” .
Last week, the Ukrainian Navy warned that oil from leakage could reach the Ukrainian Coast of the Black Sea near Odessa and Mykoje, but the Ukrainian Ministry of the Environment said a day later that they did not see any immediate threat.
Nikolai was among the hundreds of volunteers who participated in cleaning. The Moscow entrepreneur inspected information from photographs and videos published by the locals and officials and the new year’s new year went to Anapa.
In a telephone interview with The New York Times, after returning home, he said he had spent a week of throwing oil that washed out on the coast. He asked not to use his surname because he fears that he could lose state contracts.
Individuals and businesses have entered to provide some volunteers with dangerous suits and basic equipment, but this task was daunting.
“I saw the photos before I arrived,” Nikolai said. “Yes, it looked bad – but it’s different when you see it in real life.” You take the shovel and get the black drop of oil and feel like a drop in the sea. “
The air along the coast was such a heavy oil vapor, Nikolai said that after a walk without a respirator, his head was filmed and felt weak.
Cleaning teams respond to oil leaks along the coast of almost 500 miles and collect over 160,000 tonnes of contaminated sand and soil, as well as 25 tons of “oil -containing liquid”, Russian, Russian Informed about the Ministry for Emergency Situations this week.
According to Greenpeace Ukraine, which criticized a slow Russian reaction and warned against a deadly impact on marine life in the Black Sea, there is a risk that leakage will become a “long -term ecological disaster”.
Ecologists say that the escape is particularly difficult to clean due to the cargo of the tankers. Severe heating oil, unlike conventional normal oil, does not remain on the water surface, but on the contrary it falls to the bottom.
“If it is not immediately removed from the surface, it remains to wait for it to be biologically distributed by marine microorganisms,” said Natalia Gozak, director of Greenpeace, Ukraine. “This may take decades.”
A lack of immediate reaction means that a large amount of contaminated sand is to be gained, basically bite parts of the beaches around Anapa, says Georgy Kavanosyan, an independent Russian environmentalist and hydrogeologist who arrived two days after leak. .
“Oil began to fall into Písek in the first days because there were not enough intervening,” said Kavanosyan.
Satellite images Published by Mr. Kavanosyan showed two elongated spots near the tanker, which drove to the shallows, indicating new oil leaks from it after two smaller earthquakes in the weekend.
“The vessel is a ticking bomb,” he said. “The most important thing now is to drain the oil and make a boat.”
Officials announced that most of the oil had gathered from this escape on last Monday.
When Mr. Putin finally spoke about the disaster, he described it as “one of the most serious environmental challenges we have faced in recent years.”
Mr. Putin ordered high officials to supervise his efforts. The working group established this month brought several ministers to develop plans to clean and reconstruct as well as to remove tankers.
The long -term effect of oil spots on wild game is yet to be seen.
So far, at least 58 dead dolphins have been found, said the Dolphin rescue rescue and research center. declaration Saturday. Last Friday, the group sent a team to the sea to reach a sunken tanker and confirm the news that oil was still escaping.
“The contamination was throughout the route,” she said. “Just five kilometers from the coast, the dolphins were swimming jumping and municipal porks in an oil film and small fractions of heating oil to our great regret and concern.”
At least 6,000 birds stained with oil have been captured and cleaned by volunteers, but many are unlikely to survive, the experts said. According to Greenpeace, Ukraine is likely to kill tens of thousands of local birds.
Russian oil companies are increasingly used by dilapidated tankers that are not regulated or insured by Western companies.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenky and other Ukrainian leaders suggested that two 50 -year -old tankers were part of the Russian shadow fleet that appeared after the Western nation decided to economically punish Moscow for an invasion of Ukraine.
But Elisabeth Braw, head of Atlantic Council, who wrote several articles about the shadow fleet, said the ships were “old shaky tankers” that lacked several characteristics of the shadow fleets that usually operate in the Baltic Sea and sail underwater. Flags of other countries.
Both tankers involved in leaks are in Russian ownership and one of them was suspended by a license and according to the state agency Novosti was not allowed to sail.
There were also questions about why tankers, originally built for a river cruise, were allowed at all at sea in winter storms.
Cassandra Vinograd He contributed with a report from Kiev in Ukraine.
