Russia’s Emergency Situations Ministry has successfully rescued 14 crew members of the oil tanker Volgoneft 239, one of two vessels that ran aground on Sunday off the coast of occupied Crimea, state-affiliated business news outlet RBC reported on Monday.
The 13 crew members of the Volgoneft 212, the other oil tanker, which sank after running aground during a severe storm, were rescued on Sunday, though one sailor subsequently died of hypothermia. Eleven members of the two rescued crews are in a serious condition in hospital, state-affiliated news agency Interfax reported.
The two tankers both ran aground in the Kerch Strait, which runs between Russian-occupied Crimea and Russia proper, connecting the Black Sea to the smaller Sea of Azov. Both vessels are believed to have leaked some of their oil into the water, according to a report by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Savelyev to Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, RBC reported.
Savelyev added that the oil spill was drifting towards the coast in the area between Cape Panagia and the Tuzla Spit, both on the Russian mainland east of the annexed Crimean Peninsula, and that a helicopter inspection of the area around the wreckage would be carried out as soon as weather conditions permitted.
While each vessel was carrying around 4,300 tonnes of fuel, state-owned news agency TASS reported, some of the fuel tanks on the two tankers survived undamaged. Though TASS reported that leaks from both tankers had now stopped, it said that up to 3,000 tonnes of oil were thought to have spilled into the water.
A clean-up operation led by the Emergency Situations Ministry was already being readied, the Russian government announced on Monday, adding that observation of the area between Cape Panagia and the Crimean Bridge was ongoing.
Ukraine’s Navy spokesperson Dmytro Pletenchuk accused Russia of recklessness, in comments reported by The Guardian: “These are quite old Russian tankers. You can’t go to sea in such a storm. The Russians violated the operating rules. The result is an accident.”