ROSTOV DEL DON (RUSIA), 12 Nov. (EP/AP) -
Las olas gigantes provocadas por una tormenta en el Mar Negro causaron hoy la partición de un buque petrolero en dos, el cual derramó gran cantidad de combustible y ha llevado a la zona a sufrir uno de los mayores desastres medioambientales de la región en años. Los 13 tripulantes de la nave fueron rescatados, según los servicios de Emergencia, los cuales también afirmaron que podría pasar mucho tiempo hasta limpiar definitivamente el petróleo del mar.
Además, dos cargueros rusos también se hundieron como consecuencia de las olas de más de cinco metros de altura cerca del Estrecho de Kerch, el cual une el Mar Negro con el Mar de Azov, al noroeste de Rusia. Ocho marineros de uno de los barcos afectados permanecen desparecidos, pero los equipos de rescate pudieron salvar a la tripulación al completo del otro buque. Ambos arrojaron también cerca de 7.150 toneladas de sulfuro, según el portavoz del Ministerio de Situaciones de Emergencia ruso, Sergei Petrov.
"Hay una enorme preocupación ante la posibilidad de que la contaminación del agua continúe" señaló en una televisión estatal, Vesti 24, el dirigente del servicio de vigilancia medioambiental del país, Oleg Mitvol.
Mitvol también confirmó que, mientras el sulfuro no presentaba ningún peligro medioambiental, los dos cargueros podrían también desprenderse de su combustible, aumentando la polución. Maxim Stepanenko, fiscal de la región, relató a Vesti 24 que los capitanes habían sido advertidos el pasado sábado acerca de las malas condiciones y también se refirió al estado del tanque de combustible, el cual no estaba preparado para soportar una tormenta tan virulenta.
Oil tanker splits apart in strait to Black Sea, spilling thousandsof tons of fuel.
By SERGEI VENYAVSKY= Associated Press Writer=
ROSTOV-ON-DON, Russia (AP) _ Massive waves split a Russian oil tanker in two during a fierce storm, spilling at least 560,000 gallons of fuel into a strait leading to the Black Sea. It was the worst environmental disaster in the region in years, and some officials said could take years to clean up.
The 18-foot waves also sank two Russian freighters nearby, in the Strait of Kerch, a narrow strait linking the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov to the northeast. Eight sailors from one freighter were missing, but rescuers saved all the crew members the other vessel.
The two ships together were carrying about 7,150 tons of sulfur, said Sergei Petrov, a spokesman for the regional branch of Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry.
In total, as many as ten ships sank or ran aground in the Strait of Kerch and in the nearby area of the Black Sea, and reports said three other sailors were dead or missing.
The Russian tanker's 13 crew members were rescued, emergency authorities said.
The tanker, the Volganeft-139 _ loaded with nearly 1.3 million gallons of fuel oil _ was stranded several miles from shore. Stormy weather was preventing emergency workers from collecting the spilled oil which was sinking to the sea bed, authorities said.
"There is serious concern that the spill will continue,'' Oleg Mitvol, the head of the state environmental safety watchdog Rosprorodnadzor, said on Vesti 24 television. He said it would take "several years'' to clean the spill.
Two barges loaded with fuel oil also ran aground in the area but did not leak, Petrov told the AP. A Turkish freighter, Ziya Kos, also ran aground, he said.
Vesti 24 also reported the sinking of a Russian freighter carrying metal near the port of Sevastopol on Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula. Two members of its 16-man crew drowned and one was missing, it said.
Maxim Stepanenko, a regional prosecutor, told Vesti 24 that captains had been warned Saturday about the stormy conditions. He said the oil tanker _ designed during Soviet times to transport oil on rivers _ was not built to withstand a fierce storm.
Mitvol said that, while the sulfur did not present an environmental danger, the two freighters might also leak fuel oil from their tanks, adding to the pollution.
Jim Farr, a chemist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Ocean Service office of response and restoration, said the sulfur wouldn't create a "hazardous situation.''
Farr said that while on land, sulfur can be used as a fungicide, it would not act as one in a marine setting. He compared the spill to dumping a load of sand in the water and smothering a reef, or covering a patch of grass with a blanket.
He added, however, that it was difficult to speculate on the long-term effects without better knowledge of the area, including its depth and currents.
Alexei Zhukovin, an expert with the Emergency Situations Ministry's branch in southern Russia, also said sulfur was not dangerous to the region's habitat.
The Black Sea is bordered by Russia, Turkey, Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine and Georgia.
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Associated Press writer Carley Petesch contributed to this report from New York.
AP-NY-11-11-07 1659EST
