Thirty-two dolphins have died since fuel oil spilled from two tanks during a storm three weeks ago in the Kerch Strait, which separates Russia's Crimea peninsula from Russia's southern Krasnodar region. , an animal rescue group said Sunday.
The Dolphin Rescue and Research Center in Russia said the deaths are “most likely related to a fuel oil spill.”
The center said on messaging app Telegram that a total of 61 dead cetaceans – an order of aquatic mammals that includes whales and dolphins – had been recorded since the crisis, but the condition of the bodies suggested that the other 29 had died before the spill. .
“Judging by the condition of the bodies, it seems that most of these whales died in the first 10 days after the accident. And now the sea continues to kill them wash,” the center wrote, noting that most of the dolphins came dead. endangered species of Azov.
The Russian Emergencies Ministry said on Sunday that more than 96,000 tons of contaminated sand and soil were removed by officials and volunteers from the shores of Anapa and Temryuk regions in the Krasnodar region.
The ministry said it was working on cleaning up after the incident, but that “strong winds and waves” had thrown oil onto some beaches.
/AP
“More than 68 kilometers of coastline have been cleaned,” he said.
In another statement on Sunday, the ministry said that two new oil shells had been found.
One was off the beach town of Anapa and the other in Kapsel bay, he said in a statement cited by Russian news agency TASS.
The news agency said the second slick was two kilometers long.
The type of fuel oil involved in the incident is particularly difficult to clean up because it is dense and heavy and does not float on the surface, Russian authorities say.
Officials appointed by Russia in Moscow's annexed Crimea declared a regional emergency on Saturday after oil was found on the shores of Sevastopol, the largest city on the peninsula about 250 kilometers (155 miles ) from the Kerch Strait.
On December 23, the ministry estimated that up to 200,000 tons in total could be contaminated with mazut, a low-quality heavy oil product.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has called the oil spill an “ecological disaster.”
The Kerch Strait is an important global shipping lane, providing access from the inner Sea of Azov to the Black Sea.
It has also been the center of conflict between Russia and Ukraine after Moscow annexed the peninsula in 2014. In 2016, Ukraine took Moscow to the Permanent Court of Arbitration, where it on behalf of Russia that he tried to control the region illegally. In 2021, Russia closed the strait for several months.
Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to the head of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's office, described the oil spill last month as an “environmental disaster” and called for additional sanctions on Russian tankers.
/AP
Oil spills have affected marine life in recent years. Last year, an oil spill released more than 34,000 gallons in a southern Louisiana bayou it killed at least 17 aquatic salamanders and three turtles while three ducks and three alligators were reported to be covered in oil.
In 2022, a Games on big dieselI killed thousands of animals near New Orleans. The year before that, Louisiana wildlife officials said they recorded more than 100 birds full of oil after crude oil spilled from a refinery was flooded during Hurricane Ida.
In 2020, at least 38 dead dolphins washed ashore in the island of Mauritius after a large oil spill from a Japanese ship.
Agence France-Presse contributed to this report.
