Death toll rises in oil disaster 10 ships sink

by mpress | November 12, 2007 at 06:11 am

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[q
url="http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,310521,00.html"]ROSTOV-ON-DON,
Russia — Massive waves split a Russian oil tanker in two during a
fierce storm Sunday, spilling at least 560,000 gallons of fuel into a
strait leading to the Black Sea. It was the worst environmental
disaster in the region in years, and some officials said could take
years to clean up.

The 18-foot waves also sank two Russian freighters nearby, in the
Strait of Kerch, a narrow strait linking the Black Sea and the smaller
Sea of Azov to the northeast. Eight sailors from one freighter were
missing, but rescuers saved all the crew members the other vessel.

The two ships together were carrying about 7,150 tons of sulfur,
said Sergei Petrov, a spokesman for the regional branch of Russia's
Emergency Situations Ministry.

In total, as many as ten ships sank or ran aground in the Strait of
Kerch and in the nearby area of the Black Sea, and reports said three
other sailors were dead or missing.

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

The tanker, the Volganeft-139 — loaded with nearly 1.3 million
gallons of fuel oil — was stranded several miles from shore. Stormy
weather was preventing emergency workers from collecting the spilled
oil which was sinking to the sea bed, authorities said.

"There is serious concern that the spill will continue," Oleg
Mitvol, the head of the state environmental safety watchdog
Rosprirodnadzor, said on Vesti 24 television. He said it would take
"several years" to clean the spill.

Two barges loaded with fuel oil also ran aground in the area but did
not leak, Petrov told the AP. 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.

miamipress.net[/q]

ROSTOV-ON-DON, Russia (AP) -- Rescuers on Monday recovered the bodies of three sailors after a Russian freighter sank near the Black Sea, while officials assessed damage from an oil tanker spill that could be the worst environmental disaster in the region in years.

Washed up cargo from ships which spilled about 560,000 gallons of fuel in the Kerch Strait.

The Nakhichevan was one of two freighters that broke up as 18-foot waves battered ships throughout the region surrounding the Strait of Kerch, a narrow strait linking the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov.

The dead sailors wearing life vests washed up near Tuzla on the western side of the strait, said Emergency Situations spokesman Sergei Kozhemyaka. Rescuers were looking for five others.

As many as 10 ships sank or ran aground in the strait and the northern Black Sea region during the fierce storm, including the tanker, the Volganeft-139, loaded with nearly 1.3 million gallons of fuel oil. Nearly half that amount had spilled into the strait and had begun washing up on nearby shorelines.

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

Officials said it could be the worst environmental disaster in the region in years, and could take years to clean up.

Nakhichevan and the other freighter together were carrying about 7,150 tons of sulfur, which also spilled into the waters. Experts were trying to determine if there could be any long-term damage.

Alexei Zhukovin, an expert with the Emergency Situations Ministry's branch in southern Russia, said sulfur was not dangerous to the region's habitat.

Good stuff, mpress.

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