Emergency Situations Ministry specialists continue work on bunding the Volgoneft-239 tanker

Emergency Situations Ministry specialists are continuing work on berming the wrecked tanker Volgoneft-239 to prevent fuel oil from leaking into the sea. Izvestia correspondent follows the progress of work on January 15.

A protective rampart has already been partially laid around the vessel, and the progress of the work is being monitored by Emergencies Ministry head Alexander Kurenkov.

"From here you can see how far the shaft around the stern of the tanker Volgoneft-239 has been stretched. So part of the vessel will be sealed, and fuel oil will not go out to sea. After these works are completed, it will be separated and exported," said journalist Anastasia Kharchenko.

The technical access road to the stern of the emergency vessel was built within a day on the instructions of the Minister of Emergency Situations. For this purpose, more than half a kilometer of the road had to be paved and leveled. On the eve, January 14, assessing the progress of construction of an artificial harbor around the stern of the tanker, Kurenkov checked whether the booms around the disaster zone are secured, as well as how the collection and removal of fuel oil is going on. After that he gave instructions to move on to the next stage of work.

"The task was set to make a road to the tanker, and this has been accomplished. The second stage, which we are approaching today, is the bunding. It was decided to do bunding from both sides. After the end of bunding will continue to work on heating the remaining fuel and pumping it out," - stated in the Telegram-channel of the department.

Earlier, January 13, the operational headquarters of the Krasnodar region reported that the bulk of the fuel oil, which leaked from the stern of the tanker "Volgoneft-239" near the shore in the Temryuksky district, managed to collect with the help of an excavator. Small areas of pollution are removed by volunteers using shovels and collected in bags. Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin at the same time created a government commission to eliminate the consequences of the spill of oil products in the Kerch spill.

In turn, the head of Crimea Sergey Aksyonov said that there are no global oil stains near the coast of the republic after the tanker crash. All consequences of the oil spill near the coast of Crimea are planned to be eliminated by the beginning of the holiday season.

Tankers "Volgoneft-212" and "Volgoneft-239" due to bad weather crashed in the Kerch Strait on December 15, 2024. The incident resulted in a spill of oil products. 27 people were evacuated from both vessels, one person died. On the instructions of Russian President Vladimir Putin, a working group was set up to coordinate the work to eliminate the consequences of the emergency.

January 2, the press service of the Russian Ministry of Transport said that 2.4 thousand tons of oil products had fallen into the Black Sea after the crash of the tankers. Later, on January 3, an oil slick was found in Sevastopol at the entrance to Balaklava Bay. The next day the fuel oil moved northward along the Crimean coast, and Sevastopol declared a state of emergency of regional character.

In addition, on January 11, the emergency threat regime of municipal character was introduced due to the identified fuel oil stains in the Chornomorsky district in the west of Crimea.