Oil has washed up along the shorelines around the Kerch Strait following a series of tanker disasters involving ancient Russian tankers in recent days.
Footage posted on social media showed birds along the shoreline covered in mazut on Monday, after 3,700 tonnes of the heavy, low-quality oil product spilled into the strait linking the Sea of Azov to the Black Sea. More oil is expected to wash up along the coastline in the days ahead.
Two laden 50+-year-old ships were badly damaged in stormy weather in the Black Sea over the weekend.
A third tanker belonging to the same company also suffered damage yesterday, leading to hull failure and a crack near the bridge. Video footage of the vessel shows it leaking its fuel oil cargo into the sea. All three ships are ideally suited to river transport, not the stormy conditions experienced in the Black Sea in recent days.
Coming to Europe soon: Oil spills from the Russian tankers
This video shows the spill from Russian tankers this week in the Black Sea, but these outdated unregulated tankers are run through the entire Europe and constitute 17% of the global fleet
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