Rostransnadzor to check water transport due to oil spill emergency

Rostransnadzor will conduct unscheduled safety checks at water transport facilities in the Azov-Black Sea basin after a spill of petroleum products due to the tanker crash in the Kerch Strait. This was announced on March 26 by the press service of the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation.

"The focus is on handling dangerous goods. Unscheduled inspections of enterprises will be carried out in connection with the spill of petroleum products after the tanker crash in the Kerch Strait," the department's Telegram channel says.

The purpose of the inspections is to prevent such large—scale marine pollution in the future, for which violations must be eliminated in advance. Rostransnadzor also intends to monitor compliance with legislation in the ports of the region.

Clean up the slicks: how the oil spill in the Black and Azov Seas is being cleaned up

The cleanup is being carried out by EMERCOM staff and volunteers

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

The press service of the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation announced on January 2 that 2.4 thousand tons of petroleum products had entered the Black Sea after the tanker crash. Later, on January 3, an oil slick was found in Sevastopol at the entrance to Balaklava Bay. The next day, the fuel oil moved north along the Crimean coast, and a regional emergency regime was declared in Sevastopol.