Discharges from sunken tankers will continue to occur

In the area of oil product spill on the coast of the Black and Azov Seas, fuel emissions from tankers are repeated. Also a large amount of fuel oil accumulations remain at depths of up to 150 meters. From time to time they surface and create new pollution zones. This was told to "Izvestia" by Vladimir Kalyaev, head of the Skoltech development projects group. The specialist is now involved in the elimination of the accident.

"The polluted water area is large. There are places where no cleaning procedures have not been carried out, as there is no access to machinery. In some areas there is now a repeated release. This is the tanker Volgoneft-239, which sank near the shore. I was working on its stern. And according to satellite images there is still pollution from one of the sunken fragments," said Vladimir Kalyaev.

According to him, the rescuers faced a difficult task. For example, when oil gets into the sea, it stays on the water surface, so specialists know how to deal with it. However, fuel oil cools down, evaporates and as a result of interaction with sea water gets neutral buoyancy. Its clots, move in the depths of the water until they reach the warmer part of the sea. As they heat up, they float up and form a new pollution center. There are no ready-made technologies to combat it yet.

Read more in an exclusive Izvestia article:

Drops in the sea: emissions from sunken tankers will continue to occur