Russian oil tanker breaks in two

[babylonsister]

Russian oil tanker breaks in two


MOSCOW, Russia (AP) -- A Russian oil tanker split in two during a fierce storm early Sunday, spilling some 560,000 gallons of fuel into a strait leading to the Black Sea in one of the worst environmental disasters in the region in years, authorities said.

Two freighters carrying sulfur also sank nearby in the Strait of Kerch, a narrow strait linking the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov to the northeast, said Sergei Petrov, a spokesman for the regional branch of Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry.

Operations to rescue the crews of all three ships were under way, officials said.

The oil tanker, the Volganeft-139 -- loaded with about 1.3 million gallons of fuel oil -- was stranded several miles from shore. Stormy weather was preventing emergency workers from collected the spilled oil, authorities said.

"There is serious concern that the spill will continue," Oleg Mitvol, head of the state environmental safety watchdog Rosprorodnadzor said on Vesti 24 television.

He said it could take "several years" to clean up the spill, one of the worst in the region in recent years.

more...

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/11/11/russia.oilslick.ap/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

[Bicoastal]

1. Aaaaaaaah, oil...

National economies, political alliances, environmental safe zones...is there NOTHING this wonderful substance can't destory?

[BadgerKid]

2. .

Greed.

[Cleita]

3. Hmmm. Mother Nature seems to have it in for oil tankards lately.

First there was the collision of a tankard with the Bay Bridge in San Francisco Bay causing a nasty oil spill and now this.

[A HERETIC I AM]

5. The spill in SF Bay was not from a "Tankard" or even a tanker.

It was from a container ship. It was bunker fuel - the fuel the ships engines burn, not crude oil.

[Cleita]

6. Potatoes, potatoh's...it was still an oil/fuel spill and

I apologize for not being exact about this trivia but the results are the same, contamination and dead wildlife.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

4. Damn!

I am so disenchanted with our race these days. We are terrible stewards of this planet.

x( :cry: :cry: :cry: