SpaceWar.com - Your World At War
Dozens of marine mammals found dead after Russian oil tanker spill
Moscow, Jan 5 (AFP) Jan 05, 2025
More than two dozen marine mammals have been found dead since last month's Russian oil tanker spill in the Black Sea, a dolphin rescue centre said Sunday, as authorities raced to contain the fallout of the disaster.

The spill began on December 15, when two ageing Russian tankers were caught in a storm off the Kerch Strait linking Crimea to southern Russia.

One sank and the other ran aground, pouring around 2,400 tonnes of a heavy fuel oil called mazut into the surrounding waters, authorities estimate.

Russia's Delfa centre, which rescues and provides rehabilitation for dolphins, said it had recorded 61 dead cetaceans since the incident, 32 of whom "most likely" died due to the spill.

Cetaceans are a type of aquatic mammal that includes whales, dolphins and porpoises.

"Judging by the condition of the bodies, most likely the bulk of these cetaceans died in the first 10 days after the disaster," it said.

It said most of those killed were "Azov" dolphins -- a type of harbour porpoise that look similar to dolphins but are more closely related to belugas and narwhals.

Russia's emergency ministry said Sunday it was working to eliminate the consequences of the incident, but that "strong winds and waves" had thrown oil onto some beaches.

"More than 68 kilometres (42 miles) of coastline have been cleaned," it said.

Hundreds of volunteers have been deployed to scoop up contaminated soil from beaches in Crimea and along Russia's southern coast.

The type of fuel oil involved in the incident is particularly hard to clean because it is dense and heavy and does not float on the surface, Russian authorities say.


ADVERTISEMENT




Space News from SpaceDaily.com
China Focus: Chinese scientist details first planned Mars sample-return mission Tianwen 3
NASA says it will lose about 20 percent of its workforce
Building blocks of life found in distant star system suggest origins in interstellar space

24/7 Energy News Coverage
Trump administration expected to say greenhouse gases aren't harmful
MicroCarb satellite launches to map global carbon dioxide emissions from space
Rollable solar array by GalaxySpace redefines satellite compactness and power efficiency

Military Space News, Nuclear Weapons, Missile Defense
Airbus CO3D satellites begin mission to generate high precision global 3D map
BlackSky to supply satellite imagery and analytics for Latin American security operations
GovSat selects Thales Alenia Space to build secure satellite for military communications

24/7 News Coverage
First wildfire images reveal FireSat's unmatched detection capabilities
MetOp Second Generation satellite fully fuelled ahead of August launch
MicroCarb satellite launch marks new era in urban carbon tracking



All rights reserved. Copyright Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.