Specialists in Anapa continue cleaning the beach from fuel oil after an accident with tankers

The sandy beach in Anapa, where work is underway to clean the shore from fuel oil after the accident with oil tankers, only looks clean. If you dig deeper, there are specks of fuel oil everywhere, the Izvestiya correspondent said on December 27.

"Yesterday there was also a lot of work, there was a lot of equipment, today in the morning there was even a queue for loading. Technics has really added more. The volume is large, we need to clean the beach. The layer [of fuel oil] was more than 20 centimeters, in places it was more. There were several layers. A lot of work has already been done, now we are cleaning up everything," said Alexei Melikhov, deputy head of the Timashevsky District Municipality.

The top layer of sand has to be cut off with the help of heavy machinery. After that, it is poured into sacks, which are dumped into the mountains, which are then hauled away by trucks, explained correspondent Anastasia Kharchenko.

Fuel oil emissions from the sea are still continuing, Melikhov said. The circle of people willing to help clean up the shore is also expanding - crews work two days at a time, then take a day off. A combined squad of the municipality, Cossacks, and administration employees are participating.

"Now everything is already set up - transportation of suits, bags, equipment. Everything is enough, the work is set up at a good level", - added the official.

Black on the shore: 21 thousand tons of sand contaminated with fuel oil have already been removed from the beaches of Anapa

How volunteers from all over the country help to clean the Krasnodar Region coast from oil products

Earlier on December 26, the head of the Ministry of Emergency Situations Alexander Kurenkov visited the area of oil product liquidation works in Anapa. The Minister checked the organization and conduct of work after the crash of tankers "Volgoneft-212" and "Volgoneft-239" in the Kerch Strait, and talked to the employees of the services. He added that the main task is the timely removal of mixed soil and its subsequent disposal at specialized temporary storage sites. The second important task is to clean the water area and survey the bottom with the help of divers.

The tankers Volgoneft-212 andVolgoneft-239crashed in the Kerch Strait on December 15 due to bad weather. The incident resulted in a spill of oil products. 27 people were evacuated from the vessels. One person died.

On the instructions of Russian President Vladimir Putin, a working group has been set up to coordinate work to eliminate the consequences of the accident with tankers. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the situation with the elimination of the consequences of the fuel spill in the Black Sea is under the attention of the head of state.

On December 25, the regional emergency regime was introduced in Kuban due to the release of oil products. According to experts' forecasts, most of the fuel oil should have remained at the bottom of the Black Sea, but due to unfavorable weather conditions it rises to the surface and ends up on the beach.