An environmental disaster began to unfold in southern Russia on Monday as tens of thousands of oil-slicked seabirds and globules of heavy oil dotted the shoreline, a day after at least 11 ships, including a small oil tanker, sank or broke apart in a fierce storm
The oil tanker Volgoneft-139 split in half and spilled more than 1,000 tons of fuel oil, and environmentalists expressed concern that the effects of the spill would last for years. All of its crew were rescued.
Three other cargo ships, each carrying more than 2,000 tons of sulphur, also sank in the Kerch Strait, authorities said. Two of them — the Volnogorsk and the Nakhichevan — were already sinking when the third, the Kovel, hit the Volnogorsk and went down, the RIA Novosti news agency reported.
