The third tanker of the Volgonaft series, loaded with fuel oil, sent a distress signal near the port of Kavkaz in the Black Sea, the ship suffered a cargo leak, according to the Russian telegram channel Baza, UNN reports.
Details
"The captain of the Volgoneft-109 tanker sent a distress call on December 17 at half past one in the morning. The captain reported that the vessel, which was carrying 4,000 tons of fuel oil, had a leak in the fourth cargo tank and fuel oil was leaking into the ballast tank. At the same time, the tightness of the vessel's hull is not broken, fuel oil is not leaking into the water," Baza reported.
According to the telegram channel's sources, there are 14 crew members on board Volgonafta-109, "they are in no danger." The captain was offered to evacuate the crew, but he refused and asked to change the anchorage - now the Volgoneft-109 is in the Kuchugura area, southeast of Cape Peklo.
AddendumAddendum
On December 15, two tankers, Volgoneft-212 and Volgoneft-239, crashed in the Kerch Strait. After the accident, fuel oil from the tankers washed up on the shores of the Krasnodar Territory - the beaches turned black with fuel oil, and animals suffered. Local residents call the incident an environmental disaster, and more than 250 Emergencies Ministry employees are working on the scene.
The Agence news outlet notes that the oil slick after the tanker disaster has already polluted up to 35 km of the coast near Anapa. The oil slick is currently moving toward the central beach of Anapa, local blogger Yuri Ozarovsky told Agence. People started finding the first dead or injured birds on the shore on Monday, Ozarovsky said.