VLADIVOSTOK, July 02. /ITAR-TASS/. Governor of Russia’s Primorsky Krai Vladimir Miklushevsky on Wednesday demanded the use of space monitoring data for the search of those responsible for a major oil spill on the shore of the Khasan district.

Eyewitnesses reported sea pollution on June 27. According to experts, about eight million tons of petroleum products got into the water. Some seven kilometres of beaches in the area of the Malaya Kubanskaya Bay and a sea area near Molotov Cape were polluted.

Satellite images will help to find out which vessels had been in this area during the incident and in what sea area the oil spill initially appeared. The region’s head also gave orders to accelerate the laboratory analysis of the matter taken from the contaminated coast.

“The offender must be found and punished to the full effect of the law. It is vitally important. So that nobody would even try in the future to pollute our territory. The offender should be brought to criminal responsibility and economic sanctions should be imposed on him,” the Primorsky Krai head said.

The effects of the accident were eliminated within two days. Members of the student brigades from Vladivostok, including 30 students from Far East Federal University provided major assistance to the rescuers. They gathered 300 cubic meters of contaminated soil and removed it for disposal at boiler facilities of the Khasan district.

According to ecologists, seals, birds and fish were not affected by the accident.

A criminal case has been opened over the contamination of the sea and coast with oil. Law enforcement agencies are looking into two versions of how the fuel got into the sea.

The Transit DV group whose vessels are based at ports of the Khasan district of Primorsky Krai has promised to may 300,000 rubles for any authentic information about those responsible for the incident.