MOSCOW, April 4. /TASS/. Experts have reported no new signs of fuel leaking from oil tankers that wrecked in the Kerch Strait area of the Black Sea in December, Russian Emergencies Minister Alexander Kurenkov said on Friday.
"The situation in the area of the sunken shipwrecks remains stable, no oil leakage from the tanks is detected," the Russian government reported, citing Kurenkov’s words.
The Russian Emergencies Ministry carries out daily monitoring of the emergency zone and will control the situation in the affected area until the consequences of the accident are eliminated, Kurenkov said at a meeting of the governmental commission on coordination of the emergency response efforts.
"Divers are constantly examining the sunken debris. Specialists conduct seafloor monitoring in an area 1 km off the coast using teleoperated devices. The situation in the water area is controlled with the help of technologies for space monitoring, drones, and the work of patrol groups on boats," Kurenkov emphasized.
On December 15, the Volgoneft-212 and Volgoneft-239 tankers were caught in a storm in the Kerch Strait area of the Black Sea. One sailor died, while the others were rescued. Emergency services reported that the tankers carried approximately 9,200 tons of fuel oil, of which about 2,400 tons leaked into the Black Sea. Authorities established the governmental commission to coordinate the emergency response efforts. Specialists are still dealing with the consequences of the accident.