Kiev - Some 2,000 tons of heating oil spilled into the Black
Sea from a wrecked tanker as a vicious winter storm slammed into the
Crimean peninsula causing an 'ecological disaster,' Russian
environmental authorities reported Monday.
Four cargo ships sank in Sunday's storm which whipped up 6-metre
waves, the head of the Russian emergency situations, Anatoly Yanchuk,
said.
Three sailors were found dead in the water, and at least 23 were
missing, according to Russian television reports.
Three more bodies thought to be drowned sailors were found washed
up on the Russian side of the Kerch Strait on Monday, the Interfax
news agency reported.
Four other vessels - two cargo ships and two ocean-going barges -
grounded in some of the worst winter weather seen in the region in a
decade.
Russian hospitals in the region held 27 people injured in the
shipping accidents, three in serious condition, Channel 5 television
reported.
The sunk tanker Volgoneft-139 had leaked 2,000 tons of the 4,000
tons of fuel oil it was carrying into the Kerch Strait linking the
Black Sea and Sea of Azov. The 13-member crew was rescued.
A few nautical miles away two cargo ships carrying a total 6,000
tons of sulphur were under water near Tuzla Island. Eight sailors
from one of the cargo ships were missing.
A fourth sunk cargo ship, carrying steel products, was unlikely to
pose a substantial threat to the environment, Korrespondent magazine
reported.
Rescue teams found alive two sailors and a cook in the strait's
waters early Monday morning. A search effort by Russian and Ukrainian
navy and civilian vessels was continuing, aided by clearing skies and
slowly calming seas.
Most of the cargo ships had been riding at anchor waiting their
turn to move through the strait, when the storm stuck. One of the
cargo ships loaded with sulphur sank after being struck by another
vessel torn loose from its moorings.
Clean-up crews numbering over 500 men had placed floating spill
control fences around the slick, and a clean-up of the oil slick was
in progress.
The slick appeared to be moving out to sea, away from the
Ukrainian coast, Ukraine's Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich said.
High waves and strong winds made pumping out the oil still inside
the tanker impossible for the present, Channel 5 television reported.
Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko urged the government to
clean up the spill in the waters between Russia and Ukraine as
quickly as possible. Kiev did not classify the spill as a disaster.
The Russian state prosecutor said initial investigations had shown
that the Volganeft 139 was not storm-proof and should have stayed in
port when the storm was drawing in.
Elsewhere a Russian dry bulk ship carrying agricultural equipment
was driven ashore near the Ukrainian port city Sudak, some 300
kilometres from the Kerch Strait.
The crew evacuated the vessel safely, Ukrainian officials said.
A freighter loaded with scrap metal was in sinking condition in a
bay near the Ukrainian port Sevastopol. Of the 17-member crew, two
were evacuated and 15 were missing.
Two cargo ships, one Georgia-flagged and the other Turkey-flagged,
were reportedly driven aground near the Russian port Novorossisk. A
failed main engine and broken anchor chain were responsible for the
mishaps, a Novorossisk official said.
The severe winds and driving snow knocked out power ashore in the
port city Sevastopol, paralysing public transport and leaving some
buildings in the area without heating.
More than 230 villages and towns in the Crimean region lost power
as a result of the storm. Shore regions of the Black Sea peninsula on
Monday morning were littered with blown down trees and smashed
advertising hoardings, and houses throughout the region suffered roof
damage, Korrespondent reported.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
USA
Your Talkback on this Story