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Rescuers save approximately 1,500 birds in Anapa after oil spill from distressed tankers

Birds affected by the fuel oil receive assistance in specialized rescue points and are later transported to rehabilitation centers and zoos

KRASNODAR, December 28. /TASS/. Approximately 1,500 birds have been rescued in Anapa, a resort town in southern Russia, after oil from two damaged tankers spilled into the waters of the Black Sea, the operational headquarters of the Krasnodar Region reported on Saturday.

Specialists indicate localized pollution of water and new oil patches on the coast near Anapa and the Temryuksky district of Krasnodar Region. Birds affected by the fuel oil receive assistance in specialized rescue points and are later transported to rehabilitation centers and zoos.

"Currently, 1,471 birds have been rescued in Anapa, 1,241 of them were sent for rehabilitation to the Pelikan center in Stavropol Region, the Safari Park in the Krasnodar Region, and the Lukomorye zoo in Temryuksky district," the message reads.

One of the bird rescue points was organized on the territory of the Aristei ostrich farm located in the settlement of Usatova Balka in Anapa. After the affected birds are received in the sorting center, volunteers clean them in the washing room, then give them sorbents and food. The birds are placed in warm enclosures, and later, they are sent to rehabilitation centers.

Volunteers from Moscow, Volgograd, Nizhny Novgorod, Kaliningrad, Sochi, and other cities are working at the site. As of today, they have managed to save about 400 birds.

"Now we receive fewer birds than in the first days of the emergency, but volunteers are still ready to accept new 'patients'," the operational headquarters added.

About the accident

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. The authorities divided the oil-contaminated coastline in the Krasnodar Region into sectors and assigned them to the region's municipalities, each of which sent at least 100 people to carry out the emergency response effort. The head of the Republic of Crimea, Sergey Aksyonov, said that the spilled oil was mainly drifting towards the Krasnodar Region. The consequences of the spill in Crimea will be eliminated before the start of the tourist season, he noted.

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