Environmental disaster as Russian tanker sinks·

1,300 tonnes oil flows into Crimea strait after storm · Habitat may take 10 years to recover say experts Luke Harding in MoscowMonday November 12, 2007

Russia and Ukraine were last night facing a catastrophe after a tanker carrying 4,000 tonnes of oil broke up yesterday in heavy seas off the Crimean peninsula, splitting in half and creating what one senior official termed an "environmental disaster".
The Russian ship broke up in a storm and high waves yesterday near the port of Kavkaz in the narrow Kerch strait south of the Sea of Azov, in one of the worst ecological disasters in the region for years.

Two freighters carrying sulphur also sank near the Russian port about 750 miles south of Moscow, and several other ships ran aground. At least two sailors died. One person was still missing yesterday. Operations to rescue the crews of all three ships had begun, officials said.
The oil tanker, the Volganeft-139, which had been loaded with about 4,000 tonnes (1.3m gallons) of fuel oil, was stranded about three miles from the shore. Stormy weather was preventing emergency workers from collecting the spilled oil. At least 1,300 tonnes, and probably more, had leaked into the sea, officials said.
"There is serious concern that the spill will continue," Oleg Mitvol, head of the state environmental safety watchdog Rosprorodnadzor told Russia's Vesti 24 TV. "The wind is now blowing in the direction of Ukraine's coast, so it is our common problem. This problem may take a few years to solve. This is a very serious environmental disaster."

Other environmentalists said that the region's delicate ecosystem could take 10 years to recover. "This is a large accident. I would call it a catastrophe. There are going to be huge consequences for sea life," Vladimir Sliviak, co-chairman of the Russian environmental group Ecodefence, told the Guardian. "The sea is going to be totally hopeless for the next decade."
Sliviak said that because of the heavy storms the oil was likely to sink. The toxicity would affect fish, birds and sea mammals, he warned. He also claimed the Russian authorities were unlikely to clean up the sea effectively. "More oil has been spilled into the sea than the 1,000 tonnes officially reported. Normally in Russia there is a tradition by officials of underestimating the consequences."

The Sea of Azov is already suffering from severe pollution, environmentalists said. Dead fish wash up regularly on the surrounding murky shores, analysis revealing that the water is contaminated with radiation, heavy metals and petroleum.
Maxim Stepanenko, a regional lawyer, said the oil tanker, designed in Soviet times to transport oil on rivers, was not built to withstand a fierce storm. Yesterday there had been six-metre high waves and winds gusting at 80 miles an hour. "All the captains in the strait were warned of the storm at 5.15pm (2.15pm GMT) on November 10. All of them had enough time to leave the dangerous area."

The damage to the Volganeft-139 happened in Ukraine waters in the strait between that country and Russia. The tanker was carrying fuel oil from the Russian city of Samara, on the east bank of the Volga river, to a port in Ukraine.

Yesterday a Georgian freighter and a Turkish ship were also stranded, near the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiisk.The crews were safe, according to a report by the RIA news agency.