New Spill Spotted Near Kerch Strait Tanker Wrecks
A new fuel slick has been spotted on the surface near the Kerch Strait, the Russian-controlled waterway between the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, according to a Russian environmental scientist. The pollution is near the site where two aging tankers broke up and sank in December - but Russian officials deny that any additional pollution from the disaster has been observed.
On March 31, ecologist Georgy Kavanosyan released a synthetic aperture radar image of the Kerch Strait on social media, showing what appeared to be a long slick at the entrance to the strait. The site corresponds to the location of the bow section of Volgoneft-239, one of the two lost tankers. A second environmental scientist, Igor Shkradyuk, told Russian investigative reporting outlet Agentstva that the leak is likely in the range of hundreds of liters per day - and that it will likely continue through the warm months of the year as the fuel cargo heats up and seeps out.
"Unfortunately, government agencies are not telling us what is happening with the spilled fuel oil. They are pretending that none of this is happening," Shkradyuk said.
Russia's Ministry of Emergency Situations says that it continues to monitor the wreck sites daily, and it claims that no additional fuel leaks from the tankers have been recorded. "The sunken fragments of the tankers are constantly being examined by divers, the bottom is being monitored in a kilometer-long zone from the coast using remotely controlled vehicles, space monitoring technologies, drones, and patrol groups of rescuers on boats are being used to monitor the situation in the water area," ministry chief Alexander Kurenkov said Friday.
Russia's environment ministry (Rosprirodnadzor) has filed a new claim for compensation for damages against the owners of Volgoneft-239 and Volgoneft-212. The two riverine tankers were operating in the open waters of the Black Sea in wintertime, beyond the limits of their design parameters, and the ministry laid blame on the captains and on their employers.
The total claim comes to about 85 billion rubles ($1 billion), split between Kama Shipping and Volgatransneft CFC. The two firms have one month to pay for the damages, after which the ministry will initiate a lawsuit, said Svetlana Radionova, head of Rosprirodnadzor.