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Oil clean-up could take months
14/11/2007 21:12 - (SA)
Moscow - A major oil spill off the southern coast of Russia could take months to clear, a top environmentalist said on Wednesday as the first charges were brought over the accident.
About 2 000 tons of fuel oil seeped into environmentally sensitive waters of the Kerch Strait in the north-eastern corner of the Black Sea, after a fierce storm on Sunday wrecked five ships, including an oil tanker.
Igor Chestin, the head of the Russian branch of the environmental group WWF, said at a briefing in Moscow: "It will take nearly a week to clear the coast of pollution and months to eliminate fuel oil from the sea surface.
"The area is at risk of an environmental catastrophe," he said.
Effects of spill could last 10 years
Officials earlier said that 30 000 birds and 9 ,00 fish had died.
The level of oil spilled in the Kerch Strait, about 1 200km south of Moscow, is 50 times the limit allowed for fishing, environmental monitoring agency Rosgidromet said in a statement on Wednesday.
Greenpeace official Alexei Kiselyov said the effects of the spill were likely to affect the environment in the area for up to 10 years. He said between 300 and 400 tons of oil had sunk to the seabed.
Prosecutors were looking into the possibility that the damaged ships were designed for use on rivers and were unable to cope with the rough sea weather.
Harbour officials and the captains of the vessels were being investigated.
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