KRASNODAR, December 26. /TASS/. Around 29,400 square meters of Kerch Strait waters have been treated with sorbent following the discovery of petroleum products that leaked from sunken tankers, the Russian emergencies ministry’s department in south Russia’s Krasnodar Region has reported.

"A total of 295,000 square meters of water have been surveyed. The total area treated with sorbent now stands at 29,400 square meters. Containment booms measuring 450 meters in length have been installed," the authority said.

Some 4,950 square meters of shoreline have been cleared from oil pollution in the seaport of Anapa. The effort to remove contaminated sand and oil currently continues in five affected areas in the Temryuk district and Anapa. In all, some 30,000 tons of collected sand and soil have been collected and 23,500 tons have already been removed for disposal. Also, volunteers have rescued about 1,200 birds.

On December 15, the Volgoneft-212 and Volgoneft-239 tankers sank in the Kerch Strait of the Black Sea during a storm. One sailor lost his life, while the others were successfully evacuated. Emergency services confirmed that the tankers were carrying about 9,200 tons of fuel oil, resulting in an oil spill in the Black Sea. Cleanup operations are underway, with a team of over 10,000 personnel mobilized for the emergency response.

The Krasnodar Region administration reported that it would allocate 1.2 billion rubles (over $12 million at the current exchange rate) for the ongoing cleanup effort. Governor Veniamin Kondratyev said on Wednesday that petroleum products continue to leak from the sunken vessels.