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solonavi 12 November 2007 Habitat 93 views No Comment Print This Post  Email This Post

MSNBC

Rescuers on Monday recovered the bodies of three sailors after a Russian freighter sank near the Black Sea, while a slick of oil from a sunken tanker began washing onto beaches. Officials were assessing what could be the worst environmental disaster in the region in years.

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As many as 10 ships sank or ran aground in the northern Black Sea region during the fierce storm, including the Volganeft-139, an oil tanker loaded with nearly 1.3 million gallons of fuel oil.

Nearly half its cargo spilled into the Strait of Kerch, a narrow waterway linking the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov.

At the coastal settlement of Ilyich, about 100 workers were on the beach using shovels and a bulldozer to scrape globules of oil off the sand.

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A flock of about 1,000 rails, a species of wetland bird, were huddled on the beach, unable to fly because their feathers were coated with oil. Some were unable to stand.

Cleanup workers said wild dogs had been taking advantage of the birds’ condition to attack them. A Reuters reporter found a number of the birds on the beach with their heads torn off.

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The polluted area is at the heart of the migration route from central Siberia into the Black Sea of red-throated and black-throated Siberian diver birds.

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After rescuing the Russian oil tanker’s 13 crew members, workers began what could be a long-term effort to clean up the spill.

They shoveled the tar-like, oil-laden sands and seaweed into piles on the shore as slick-covered waters lapped at their boots. Oil covered birds could be seen trying to swim flap their wings.

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The Nakhichevan and the other freighter together were carrying about 7,150 tons of sulfur, which also spilled into the waters.

Russian environmental officials said the sulfur did not appear to pose any environmental danger. Jim Farr, a chemist with the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, compared the spill to dumping a load of sand in the water and smothering a reef, or covering a patch of grass with a blanket.

However, he said that it was difficult to know the long-term effects without better knowledge of the area’s depth and currents.

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