RUSSIA: Russia's Black Sea oil spill a catastrophe for local region, say residents

Record ID: 343662

  • Title: RUSSIA: Russia's Black Sea oil spill a catastrophe for local region, say residents
  • Date: 16th November 2007
  • Summary: (BN10) STRAIT OF KERCH, RUSSIA (NOVEMBER 14, 2007) (REUTERS) VARIOUS AERIAL VIEWS OF OIL TANKER/ LEAKING OIL FROM TANKER
  • Embargoed: 1st December 2007 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Disasters / Accidents / Natural catastrophes,Environment / Natural World
  • Reuters ID: LVA2N2TNSL92L6T46ZZHUC2HSVJI
  • Story Text: Local residents do their best to clean up after oil spill which is disastrous for local wildlife and tourist economy.
    A fuel oil spill from a Russian tanker into the Black Sea and the nearby Sea of Azov has been described as an ecological catastrophe by people living inland from the site of the spill.
    A storm on Sunday (November 11) broke up the tanker and sank at least four freighters while crippling other vessels in the narrow Kerch Strait between the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. Four seamen were drowned and four others are missing.
    On Thursday (November 15), local nature reserve staff and volunteers near Russia's port of Kavkaz in the Kerch Strait fought a race against time to save wild birds contaminated by the oil spill.

    "We are washing them (the wild birds) in soapy water; we don't know if it'll be effective, but we plan to clean a number of birds, and will monitor their condition at our main base, where we take them to after cleaning them here. The birds' skin as well as feathers have been contaminated by the oil," said Ivan Shamrai, head of the local nature reserve close to the port of Kavkaz.

    "Of course for us, it is a catastrophe, it is an ecological catastrophe; we (humans) will survive, but I feel sorry for the animals, the birds, the fish. Yesterday I was collecting small birds, and tried to clean them, but they all died, and we buried them," said Lyudmila Kazachuk, a retired school teacher, whose home backs onto the sea shore in the village of Ilich, 3km east of the port of Kavkaz.
    The region affected by the oil spill is also a popular destination for tourists from Russia and Ukraine. Local people supplement their incomes by offering accommodation to visitors.
    But Kazachuk said she feared tourist numbers would drop after the disaster.

    "Of course for us, it is a catastrophe, it is an ecological catastrophe; we (humans) will survive, but I feel sorry for the animals, the birds, the fish. Yesterday I was collecting small birds, and tried to clean them, but they all died, and we buried them," she added.
    Russian environment protection agency officials said on Thursday around 1,500 tonnes of fuel oil was still afloat in the water, killing thousands of birds and fish.
    The Kerch Strait separates the port of Kerch on Ukraine's Crimea Peninsula from Russia.
    mos/jrc
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