Russian oil tankers sink in the Kerch Strait: one sailor dead and oil spills

Two ships sink in the Black Sea due to a storm, causing an oil spill off the Crimea

Two Russian oil tankers, loaded with mazut, a residue of oil used as low-grade fuel, sank in the Kerch Strait, about eight kilometres off the Crimean coast. The accident, caused by a violent storm, resulted in the death of a sailor and a massive oil spill at sea.

According to the Russian Federal Maritime Transport Agency, the ship Volgoneft-212 was severely damaged at the bow, causing more than four tonnes of fuel oil to spill out. Shortly afterwards, another oil tanker, the Volgoneft-239, suffered damage in the same stretch of sea. The authorities have not yet specified the amount of crude oil on board the second ship.

On board the two tankers were 29 crew members, of whom 13 were rescued. Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the creation of a working group, led by Deputy Premier Vitaly Savelev, to handle the emergency. Preliminary investigations suggest that the accident may have been caused by criminal negligence.

This incident is reminiscent of a precedent that occurred in 2007, when another tanker of the Volgoneft fleet, the Volgoneft-139, sank in the same Kerch Strait, spilling over a thousand tonnes of oil into the sea.

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