By DPA
Kiev (Ukraine) : Some 2,000 tonnes of heating oil has 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 that whipped up six-metre waves, said the head of the Russian emergency situations, Anatoly Yanchuk. Two sailors are dead and at least 23 are missing, according to broadcaster Russia Today.
The Volgoneft-139 leaked 2,000 tonnes of the 4,000 tonnes of fuel oil it was carrying into the Kerch Strait, linking the Black Sea and Sea of Azov. The 13-member crew were rescued.
A few nautical miles away two cargo ships carrying a total 6,000 tonnes of sulphur sank near Tuzla Island. Eight sailors from one of the cargo ships are missing.
Most of the vessels had been riding at anchor when the storm struck.
Clean-up crews had placed floating spill control fences around the slick by mid-afternoon, and a oil spill clean up vessel based in the Russian port of Rostov-on-Don was reportedly en route to the scene, Petr Efimov, a port official, told Interfax.
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 showed that the Volganeft 139 was not storm-proof and should have stayed in port when the storm was drawing in.
Danger of additional oil spills was posed by a barge carrying 3,000 tonnes of crude, and known to be drifting near Tuzla Island without power.
The status of all ships in the vicinity – one of the most heavily travelled waterways in the former Soviet Union – was not fully clear.
Elsewhere, a Russian dry bulk ship carrying agricultural equipment was driven ashore near the Ukrainian port city Sudak, some 300 km 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 of Sevastopol. Of the 17-member crew, two were evacuated and 15 are missing.
Two cargo ships, one Georgia-flagged and the other Turkey-flagged, were reportedly driven aground near the Russian port of Novorossisk.
A failed main engine and broken anchor chain, respectively, were responsible for the mishaps, a Novorossisk official said.
The severe winds and driving snow knocked out power ashore in the port city of Sevastopol, paralysing public transport and leaving some buildings in the area without heating.
Gale force winds and high seas were hampering both rescue and cleanup efforts.