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60 cubic metres of oil products pumped out of holed Karakumneft tanker

The operation involves 79 people and 24 units of machinery

VLADIVOSTOK, February 19 (Itar-Tass) — Around 60 cubic metres of oil products were pumped out during this Sunday from the Karakumneft tanker which was holed when tossed by a storm onto rocks of the Kurile island of Iturup.

The operation involves 79 people and 24 units of machinery, Itar-Tass learnt from press secretary of the Sakhalin regional branch of the Ministry for Emergencies Alexander Ivelsky.

According to the press secretary, the pumping of fuel from the holed vessel will be conducted round-the-clock. Leaks of fuel from the vessel were not registered. A group of the ministry’s specialists stay at the place of the incident.

The Karakumneft was holed in several places on February 15, and 300 cubic metres of oil products leaked from the ship. All in all, the vessel carried over 1,000 tonnes of fuel. None of 20 crewmembers was injured during the emergency. All of them were evacuated ashore on the night of February 15 and accommodated at a hotel in the city of Kurilsk.

The pumping of fuel from tanker started this morning with hoses, stretched from the Karakumneft to the shore. Oil products are pumped into fuel-filling motor vehicles that drive to a lubricants depot and are unloaded there.

The ministry’s divers inspected the sub-surface part of the tanker on Saturday and found out damages of the bottom. Specialists on mopping up emergency oil slicks inspected the coastline 12 kilometres long north and south of the Kurilsk port and detected insignificant traits of diesel fuel on the coast.

The Marat tanker and the Atlas rescue boat plan on Monday to join the operation on overcoming aftermaths of the emergency.

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