Russian officials warned of severe environmental damage Wednesday as thousands of people came out to clean up tons of fuel oil that spilled out of two storm-stricken tankers more than two weeks ago in the Kerch Strait, near Moscow-occupied Crimea.
More than 10,000 people, largely volunteers, raced to rescue wildlife and remove tons of sand saturated with mazut, a heavy, low-quality oil product, according to Russian news reports. Authorities in Russia’s southern Krasnodar region last week announced a region-wide emergency, as the fuel oil continued washing up on the coastline 10 days after one tanker ran aground and the other was left damaged and adrift on Dec. 15.
The move came days after Russian President Vladimir Putin called the oil spill an “ecological disaster.” On Wednesday, New Year’s Day, Krasnodar officials said the oil kept on surfacing on the beaches of Anapa, a popular local resort. More than 71,000 tons of contaminated sand and soil had been removed along 56 kilometers (35 miles) of shoreline since the original spill, Russia’s emergencies ministry reported on Wednesday morning.
