Publicité
Burning tanker spills oil into Russian river
Par
Partager cet article
Burning tanker spills oil into Russian river
Firefighters struggled to contain a blaze on an oil tanker on Russia's Volga river yesterday and ecologists warned that tonnes of oil leaking from the vessel posed a serious environmental threat.
Television reports showed plumes of black smoke sweeping above the river in central Russia as the tanker carrying 2 000 tonnes of light crude burned for a second day.
Oil started to leak from the vessel in large quantities early yesterday, creating a 15-metre (50-foot) wide slick that officials said was drifting down the river. ?Up to 700 tonnes of crude have leaked from the oil tanker Viktoria so far?, a duty officer for the Transport Ministry's river department said. ?The fire is yet to be put out as it has spread to the remaining oil on the tanker.? River traffic had not been disrupted, the officer said.
The spilt oil was contained inside a special boom, but had washed onto the riverbank in some places, he said. Emergency and environmental services were working to remove the oil.
The fire broke out on Saturday after an explosion occurred on the privately owned tanker, which is near the town of Sizran, about 700 km east of Moscow. One crew member was killed by the blast, officials said.
Natalia Oleferenko, an expert working for the environmental pressure group Greenpeace in Moscow, said the oil threatened plant, fish and animal life on the Volga. ?This is definitely going to harm the ecology of the region?, she said.?The fact that the vessel has been burning for so many hours implies the air could stay polluted for weeks in this densely populated area?, she added.
Viktor Stanotin, mayor of a near-by city of Oktyabrsk, told Itar-Tass news agency extra booms were arranged down the river and along the bank to prevent the spill from spreading further. ?The vessel is burning and in the last few hours the blaze has visibly subsided?, he said. ?The situation is under control?.
Publicité
Publicité
Les plus récents
