Oil spill within the Kerch Strait.
Dozens of marine mammals have been found dead since a Russian tanker spilled within the Black Sea last month, a dolphin rescue center said on Sunday, as authorities scrambled to contain the disaster.
The spill began on December 15, when two aging Russian oil tankers were caught in a storm near the Kerch Strait connecting Crimea with southern Russia.
Authorities estimate that one of them sank and the opposite ran aground, spilling about 2,400 tons of heavy fuel oil called mazut into the encircling waters.
Russia’s Delfa center, which rescues and rehabilitates dolphins, said it had recorded 61 dead whales because the incident, 32 of which “most likely” died because of this of the spill.
Cetaceans are a species of aquatic mammals that include whales, dolphins and porpoises.
“Judging by the condition of the bodies, most of these whales most likely died within the first 10 days after the disaster,” wrote the Telegram.
Most of those killed were found to be “Azov” dolphins – a sort of porpoise that appears much like dolphins but is more closely related to beluga whales and narwhals.
Russia’s Emergency Situations Ministry said Sunday it was working to scrub up after the incident, but “strong winds and waves” dumped oil on some beaches.
“More than 68 kilometers (42 miles) of coastline has been cleared,” the statement said.
Since last month, Russia’s emergency ministries have been organizing beach clean-ups.
In one other statement on Sunday, the ministry said two recent oil spills had been discovered.
One of them took place within the seaside resort of Anapa, and the opposite in Kapsel Bay, it said in a press release quoted by the Russian news agency TASS.
The news agency reported that the second stain was two kilometers long.
Hundreds of volunteers were sent to gather contaminated soil from beaches in Crimea and along Russia’s southern coast.
Russian authorities say the sort of fuel oil utilized in the accident is especially difficult to scrub up since it is thick and heavy and doesn’t float on the surface.
© 2025 AFP
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