Kiev - Environmentalists in Russia and Ukraine predict that
the ecological impact of a recent oil spill in the Black Sea will
last decades, the Interfax news agency reported.
Some 2,000 tons of heating oil spilled into the Kerch Strait
dividing the two former Soviet republics on Sunday, after a tanker
sank in severe weather.
'The clean up of the water is going to take six months, and a
complete clean up of the coastal areas is going to take decades,'
environmentalist Aleksander Minin said in a teleconference.
Much of the water in the Black Sea, generally at depths below 200
metres, will not support life due to high concentrations of hydrogen
sulphide, and low levels of oxygen.
Were the oil to sink to the depth of the sulphur-rich water in the
Black Sea, it could remain there almost indefinitely until returned
to the surface or land by currents, Minin said.
'Some of these petroleum products can sink to levels in the water,
particularly those without oxygen, and there they will not dissolve,
and just stay there for dozens of years,' he explained.
Dozens of kilometres of sea shore have or soon will be polluted as
a result of the spill, said Sergei Golubchikov, an environmental
scientist.
The largest portion of the oil slick at last report was in the
middle of the strait. Some 12 kilometres of beach on the Russian side
of the strait had been soiled by oil, eyewitnesses said.
Russian marines and civilian workers fielded by both the Russian
and Ukrainian governments were continuing clean-up efforts, and
rescue teams on Tuesday morning resumed searches for five sailors
still missing as a result of the storm.
A Russian beach patrol discovered an inflatable raft and a single
life vest on the shore alongside Chuskha point, near the site of the
sunken tanker.
The Sunday gale struck the Kerch Strait with 100 kilometre per
hour winds, sinking four ships, driving another four aground, and
damaging 15 more vessels.
The total value of damage caused to shipping and land structures
by the storm, the oil spill aside, would be well in excess of 30
million dollars, Interfax reported.
The leadership of Ukraine's Crimea province on Tuesday requested
20 million dollars' in emergency funds from the central government
for repairs and oil clean up.
Skies were clearing but winds were still gusting to 60 kilometres
an hour, and seas remained rough on Tuesday, hampering both the
search and clean-up efforts.
All helicopters were grounded and the only search and rescue
efforts on the Ukrainian side were being performed by vehicles
driving along the beach, said Nestor Shufrich, Ukraine Emergency
Situations Minister, according to a Channel 5 television news report.
Clean-up crews had removed some 200 tonnes of oil from the water
by midday Tuesday, according to Interfax.
Russian officials heading up the clean-up estimated the size of
the slick on Tuesday at some 1,200 tonnes of oil, implying that
around 600 tonnes of oil had been dissolved in sea water, sunk from
view, or been cast up on shore.
A major shipping throughway, the Sea of Azov also is a popular
summer resort area with sand, gravel, and pebble beaches.
The clean up of soiled beaches in time for next year's beach
season was 'difficult but possible,' Minin said.
Rain and continued poor weather conditions were probable up to the
weekend, according to a statement by Ukraine's National
Meteorological Service.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
USA
Your Talkback on this Story