Putin instructed to organize rescue work in the Kerch Strait

Russian President Vladimir Putin has instructed to organize rescue operations in the Kerch Strait. This was reported by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on December 15.

According to the Russian leader's spokesman, Putin listened to reports from Emergencies Ministry head Alexander Kurenkov, Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Savelyev and Natural Resources and Environment Minister Alexander Kozlov regarding the grounding of tankers Volgoneft-212 and Volgoneft-239 in the Kerch Strait.

The Kremlin's Telegram channel reports that the Russian leader has instructed the creation of a government working group headed by Savelyev, which will organize rescue operations and deal with the elimination of the fuel spill.

Breaking storm: two tankers in distress off the coast of Kerch

The powerful elements snapped both vessels in half

It became known earlier in the day that the tanker Volgoneft-212 was in distress due to bad weather in the Kerch Strait. In that area there were strong squally winds and sea waves up to 7 points. Some time later it became known about the damage of the second tanker. In the main Directorate (GU) of the Ministry of Emergency Situations in the Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol reported that more than 50 people and 11 units of equipment are involved in the elimination of the incident.

Later in the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia specified that the "Volgoneft-212" ran aground, and the "Volgoneft-239" after the damage suffered went adrift. During the rescue operation 13 people were evacuated from the first vessel, one of them died. Two criminal cases were initiated over the incident.