More than 30 minke whales have been found dead at sea after the mid-December wreck of two oil tankers in the Black Sea, a specialized non-governmental organization based in Sochi, in the southwest, announced today.
On December 15, two Russian tankers, Volgoneft-212 and Volgoneft-239, sank during a storm in the Kerch Strait, between Russia and the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea, annexed by Moscow in 2014. The vessels were carrying 9,200 tons of fuel oil, of which, according to the Russian authorities, approx.
“We have recorded 61 dead whales, of which 32 after December 15, whose deaths are most likely related to the oil spill,” the Russian NGO Delpha reported on Telegram, speaking of “an increased number.”
“Almost daily, we receive information about new deaths,” continued the organization that specializes in saving dolphins and other cetaceans off its Russian coast.
As the NGO notes, according to which “the dead marine mammals are mostly porpoises”, “judging by the condition of the carcasses, it is very likely that most of these cetaceans died in the first ten days after the disaster”.
“The pollution (of water from the oil spill) is significant,” he noted.
For about 3 weeks now, the authorities and volunteers have organized a massive clean-up operation, but the situation continues to cause concern.
More than 96,000 tons of contaminated sand were washed away from dozens of kilometers of coastline, but a total of about 200,000 tons of soil could have been affected, according to Russian authorities.
