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A Russian tanker carrying thousands of tons of petroleum products broke up during a severe storm on Sunday, spilling oil into the Kerch Strait, while another tanker was also in danger after sustaining damage, Russian officials said.
The ships were in the Kerch Strait between mainland Russia and Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014, when they issued distress signals.
Russian investigators opened two criminal cases to investigate possible safety violations after at least one person died when the 136-meter Volgoneft 212 oil tanker, with 15 people on board, broke in half when its bow sank.
Images from state media showed waves washing over its deck.
The Russian-flagged ship, built in 1969, was damaged and ran aground, officials said.
An unverified video posted on Telegram showed blackened water in stormy seas and a half-submerged tanker.
The second Russian-flagged ship, the 132-meter Volgoneft 239, was adrift after suffering damage, the Emergencies Ministry said. It has a crew of 14 and was built in 1973.
Key route for fuel and grain exports.
The Kerch Strait is a key route for Russian grain exports and is also used for exports of crude oil, fuel oil and liquefied natural gas.
In September, Ukraine accused Russia before an international court of violating maritime law by trying to keep the Kerch Strait under its exclusive control, something Moscow dismisses as unfounded.
Emergency services said one person had died, but 12 other people had been evacuated from the first tanker. Eleven of them were taken to hospital, two of them in serious condition, the TASS news agency quoted Alexei Kuznetsov, assistant to the Minister of Health, as saying.
The Emergencies Ministry said it was still in contact with the other tanker and its crew after the ship ran aground 80 meters from the coast near the port of Taman at the southern end of the Kerch Strait.
Each of the tankers has a carrying capacity of approximately 4,200 tons of petroleum products.
Official statements did not provide details about the extent of the spill or why one of the tankers was so badly damaged.
President Vladimir Putin ordered the government to establish a task force to deal with the rescue operation and mitigate the impact of the fuel spill, news agencies quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying after Putin met with the ministers of emergencies and environment.
Russia said more than 50 people and equipment, including Mi-8 helicopters and rescue tugs, had been deployed to the area.
Svetlana Radionova, head of Russia’s natural resources watchdog Rosprirodnadzor, said specialists were assessing damage at the incident site.
