A violent storm in the Black Sea has triggered what promises to be an ecological catastrophe of large proportions. On Sunday, December 15, off the coast of Crimea, the Volgoneft-212 tanker broke in two after being hit by an anomalous wave, while a second boat, the Volgoneft-239, ran aground not far away. The human toll is one sailor dead and 11 hospitalized, but attention is now turned to the tons of hydrocarbons that are pouring into the sea.
The Volgoneft-212 poured under the force of the storm; some videos show the ship's bow emerging vertically from the waters before sinking [1]. The tank was carrying 4,300 tons of "mazut", a low-quality waste fuel oil, which has already formed a dense black spot around the wreck. Shortly after, the Volgoneft-239 also went into trouble, running aground with 14 people on board and a load of 4 tons of the same product. Rescue operations for the latter have been temporarily suspended pending favorable weather conditions.
Ukraine reacted harshly, accusing Moscow of gross negligence. According to Dmytro Pletenchuk, spokesman for the Ukrainian navy, those ships should never have been in the open sea given their age and the intensity of the storm. "The Russians have violated the operational rules and the result is an accident," Pletenchuk said, stressing how the age of the vehicles contributed to the disaster.
The Russian government has confirmed the spill of petroleum products, although it has not yet quantified the exact size. The oil slick is heading towards the coasts of Tuzla Island. The Minister of Natural Resources, Alexander Kozlov, and the head of the Russian Environmental Agency, Svetlana Radionova, arrived on site to assess the damage to an already fragile ecosystem.
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