The Federal Maritime Transport Agency Russia has confirmed a fuel oil spill in the Kerch Strait, of scope yet to be determined, as a result of an accident that has affected two oil tankers due to alleged human error in the middle of a storm in these waters and that has so far resulted in one sailor dying, according to the first investigations.
The ships involved are two Volgoneft oil tankers that each transported approximately four tons of fuel oil through the strait that separates Crimea. under Russian control of the Russian Krasnodar region, connecting the Black Sea with the Sea of Azov.
The first, the ‘Volgoneft 212’, with 15 crew members on board, has sunk after ending up split in half, according to images released by official Russian media. The deceased sailor worked on this freighter. The second is the ‘Volgoneft 239’, with 14 crew members on board and is currently adrift.
Sources from the maritime search and rescue services have indicated to the Interfax agency that everything points to human error in the absence of clarifying the exact circumstances of the incident, It occurred seven kilometers from the coast, “in the middle of a strong storm that the crews of both ships could not cope with.”
The same sources point out that Both tankers, built between 1980 and 1984, were only conceived as river transport trained to navigate close to the coast but only in calm conditions. “A storm could end up causing excessive stress on the hull,” they estimate.
The Novorossiysk Transport Prosecutor’s Office is carrying out an investigation for possible criminal offenses into the shipwreck due to violation of road safety rules and exploitation of maritime transport.
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