Tons of oil spilt after tanker capsizes in Crimean storm (2nd Roundup)

Nov 11, 2007, 18:22 GMT

Kiev - Some 2,000 tons of heating oil spilled into the Black Sea from a wrecked tanker as a vicious winter storm slammed into the Crimean peninsula Sunday, the Russian environmental authorities reported.

Seventeen ships were also in trouble in the vicinity when the tanker, Volganeft 139, split in two in the Kerch Strait. Most of the vessels had been riding at anchor when the storm stuck.

The stern portion of the tanker drifted ashore to the Russian side of the strait, with 13 crew members aboard.

Three tug boats - one Ukrainian and two Russian - were on the scene attempting to bring the tanker's bow, that remained afloat, under control.

The Ukrainian tug managed to rescue six of the men by Sunday evening. Heavy snowfall and deteriorating visibility was hampering the rescue effort.

The oil spill was a 'serious environmental problem' that could take months to clear, Itar-Tass news agency reported.

Clean-up crews had placed floating spill control fences around the slick by mid-afternoon, and a oil spill clean up vessel based in the Russian port of Rostov-na-Donu was reportedly en route to the scene, Petr Efimov, a port official, told Interfax.

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko urged the government to clean up the spill in the waters between Russia and Ukraine as quickly as possible. Kiev did not classify the spill as a disaster.

The Russian state prosecutor said initial investigations had shown that the Volganeft 139 was not storm-proof and should have stayed in port when the storm was drawing in.

Some 20 crew members were rescued from various damaged vessels off the Crimean coast. Eight men were believed to still be missing.

Two Russian sailors drowned in the waters by the port of Sevastopol when their freight ship carrying a load of scrap metal went down.

The storm was expected to increase in strength overnight.

Earlier in the day, the level six gale at its epicentre near the Kerch Strait was producing waves in excess of 5 metres, and winds over 32 metres per second, officials at Ukraine Ministry of Emergency Situations.

Two cargo ships carrying a total 6,000 tons of sulphur sank near Tuzla Island, in the Kerch Strait's narrows.

At least 12 crew members made it ashore safely, but it was not immediately clear from the reports how many other sailors from the two vessels were accounted for.

Danger of additional oil spills was posed by a barge carrying 3,000 tons of crude, and known to be drifting near Tuzla Island without power.

Officials from Russia's and Ukraine's Emergency Situation Ministries had communication headquarters operational by mid- afternoon.

The status of all ships in the vicinity - one of the most heavily- travelled waterways in the former Soviet Union - was not fully clear.

At least one cargo ship in the Tuzla area was requesting assistance. It was not immediately clear whether the ship was the drifting barge sighted from ashore, or another vessel.

Elsewhere a Russian dry bulk ship carrying agricultural equipment was driven ashore near the Ukrainian port city Sudak, some 300 kilometres from the Kerch Strait.

The crew evacuated the vessel safely, Ukrainian officials said.

Another bulk carrier was in sinking condition in a bay near the Ukrainian port Sevastopol. The 17-member crew was evacuating the ship with the assistance of rescue teams.

Two cargo ships, one Georgia-flagged and the other Turkey-flagged, were reportedly driven aground near the Russian port Novorossisk.

A failed main engine and broken anchor chain, respectively, were responsible for the mishaps, a Novorossisk official said.

The severe winds and driving snow knocked out power ashore in the port city Sevastopol, paralysing public transport and leaving some buildings in the area without heating.