A fuel oil leak from the sunken tankers has resumed in the Kerch Strait
Kyiv • UNN
Satellites have detected new fuel oil slicks near the sunken tankers. The fuel pumping operations may have been suspended due to technical difficulties.
A fuel oil leak from the sunken tankers "Volgoneft-212" and "Volgoneft-239" has been recorded again in the Kerch Strait. New oil product slicks were captured in satellite images on August 20 and 25, The Moscow Times reports, writes UNN.
Details
According to the Sky Eye monitoring project, fuel oil slicks appeared near the sunken vessels, while wind and currents are carrying the oil products in southwesterly and southeasterly directions.
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On August 21, the Russian government commission announced the completion of work to pump fuel oil from the sunken tankers. Sky Eye assumes that the work may in fact have only been suspended because it was technically impossible to fully pump the fuel out of the vessels.
The tankers "Volgoneft-212" and "Volgoneft-239" sank on December 15, 2024. According to the Russian Ministry of Transport, about 2,400 tonnes of fuel oil entered the Black Sea at that time.
The Russian authorities estimated the damage to the ecosystem at 85 billion rubles. The raising of the sunken parts of the vessels and the final elimination of the accident's consequences are planned to be completed by the end of 2026.
Earlier, Rosprirodnadzor acknowledged that it was impossible to collect all the fuel oil that had entered the sea. According to Serhii Ostakhov, a member of the Scientific and Expert Council of the All-Russian Society for Conservation of Nature, fully cleaning up the Black Sea region could take more than three years.