Disaster in the Black Sea — Russia hides the scale
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Russian authorities are trying to conceal the consequences of the December 15 oil tanker accident in the Kerch Strait. It is not yet known exactly how many tons of oil products were spilled into the water. But it is already clear that the damage to the sea is significant.
This was told by Vladyslav Balinskyi, an ecologist and activist of the Green Leaf organization.
Fuel oil in the sea
According to the expert, the tankers were carrying almost 9 thousand tons of oil products. The storm broke the vessels in half. But Russian officials claim that the fuel oil leak was "partial" and that no stains were found on the sea surface. At the same time, Vladislav Balinskyi notes that local residents are posting photos and videos of large spills on the coast and finding birds smeared with fuel oil.
"As of the evening of December 17, the environmental disaster has already affected at least 60 km of the Black Sea coast of Krasnodar Krai. Residents of the northern outskirts of Anapa are complaining about the smell of gas and oil, which causes vomiting and tears," the environmentalist said.
Balinskyi also noted that the video posted by official Russian institutions was shot in such a way that the glare from the oil slicks was not visible.
"However, if you look closely, you can see the effect of calming the waves near the hull of the sunken ship along the wind direction vector. This is a large stain of fuel oil spilling out of the middle of the tanker! We also note that the remains of the Volgoneft-239, which washed ashore near Cape Panagia, were filmed from the stern so that the absence of the bow of the tanker is not evident. It is unclear how the contents of the tanks, which were torn in half, could be preserved in the tank," he claims.
What happened
On December 15, off the coast of Kerch, a powerful storm broke two Russian oil tankers in half. We are talking about Volgoneft-212 and Volgoneft-239. As a result of the accident, 8.6 thousand tons of fuel oil could have been released into the sea. Yesterday, another Russian tanker, Volgoneft-109, sent a distress signal. According to official reports, it did not leak fuel oil into the sea.
