The Russian government will decide in February on options for lifting tanker parts

The Russian government continues to evaluate options for lifting the sunken fragments of tankers Volgoneft-239 and Volgoneft-212, which crashed in the Kerch Strait. This was announced by Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Savelyev on February 7 following a meeting of the pravcomission to coordinate work on emergency response.

"We continue to evaluate options for lifting the sunken fragments of the Volgoneft-239 and the Volgoneft-212 tanker, taking into account the assessment of all necessary environmental safety requirements. In February we will make a decision on this issue," Savelyev was quoted by the press service of the Russian government in Telegram.

It is also noted that after the work on pumping oil products from the aft part of the tanker "Volgoneft-239" continues a set of measures to dismantle the external and internal structures of the vessel. It is indicated that at the moment about 10% of the total tonnage of the stern has been dismantled. The works are planned to be completed by March 31 this year.

In addition, on the beach territory of Anapa and Temryuksky district is the construction of a berm to protect the coast from oil pollution due to possible emissions from the water area, as well as from adverse weather conditions.

Earlier, on January 31, specialists began work on the disposal of the tanker "Volgoneft-239". It was noted that the work on pumping out fuel oil from the stern part of the tanker "Volgoneft-239" was completed on January 25, which made it possible to proceed to the disposal stage. It is planned to be completed by the end of March 2025.

The tankers Volgoneft-212 andVolgoneft-239crashed in the Kerch Strait on December 15, 2024 due to bad weather. 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 work to eliminate the consequences of the emergency.