KRASNODAR, December 23. /TASS/. New oil patches of various sizes have been detected on the Black Sea coast of south Russia’s Krasnodar Region in almost all areas of active remediation to two tankers' emergency situation, the operative headquarters of the region reported.
"The sea drifts ashore new fuel oil almost in all areas of active cleaning. The patches vary in their size - from small spots to larger and puddled areas, ranging from 3 square meters to 50 square meters," the report reads.
New oil spots were recorded in the area of the river Mozhepsin, on the coastal strip of the settlement Blagoveshchenskaya, and on the Dzhemete beach.
Early on December 23, specialists and volunteers resumed cleaning the coastal strip as the weather improved. They continued to remove previously collected bags of oil-contaminated sand and soil. The overnight storm left them largely intact, the operational headquarters specified.
On December 15, the Volgoneft-212 and Volgoneft-239 tankers sank in the Kerch Strait area in the Black Sea amid a storm. One sailor died, and the rest were evacuated. According to emergency services, the tankers were carrying about 9,200 tons of fuel oil. An oil spill occurred in the Black Sea as a result of the accident, and clean-up operations are underway - a working group of over 10,000 people was assembled to carry out the emergency response effort. According to Russian Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Alexander Kozlov, 14,000 tons of oil-contaminated sand have been removed, while the volume of polluted soil may increase to 200,000 tons.