The scale of the environmental disaster along Russia's Krasnodar coast is becoming clear as volunteers say no major state efforts are being made to help in the cleanup.
On December 15, two oil tankers foundered in the Kerch Strait, the body of water between Russia and the Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula. Some 4,000 tons of fuel oil poured into the sea and has subsequently washed ashore. Volunteers are now cleaning up the landscape, and wildlife caught up in the spill -- work they say is being done without state support.
Ksenia Vysotskaya is one of those working to clean up the Russian coast. “After 2 1/2 hours, even if you're wearing a respirator mask, goggles, gloves, and are fully protected, the fumes start to take a toll. You feel a headache, nausea, and start vomiting,” she says. “I had to lie down for several hours afterwards.”
"We took the children here so they could breathe fresh air," Vysotskaya says. "Imagine how many parents of asthmatic children have moved here for that reason. Now the children are forced to breathe this in, they complain about the smell, they feel nausea and have difficulty breathing. But there is nowhere to take them, there's no money for this, and no transport provided from the state either,” the local woman adds.
Both vessels involved in the disaster were more than 50 years old and were registered to small companies. There are fears the ships' owners could evade serious consequences by declaring bankruptcy and dissolving their companies. One of the companies has no assets beyond the one wrecked ship, the other has only another aged tanker on its books.
Marina, a resident of Anapa, on Russia's coast near the Kerch Strait, says her young son began vomiting amid the stench of fuel oil. She sent him to stay with his grandmother in Voronezh, but not everyone has such an option.
"Hundreds of families with children live here," she says. "I can’t understand why there is no evacuation, since a state of emergency has been declared.” Without any state support she says, “we have to take care of the children ourselves. As for animals, only volunteers are out rescuing them.”
Local volunteers say around 4,000 people have gathered to clean the affected shore and search for animals. But rotations are virtually constant since people can only work for for 2 1/2 hours at a time before their own health is impacted.
“However many volunteers we have, we still need more," Vysotskaya says. “People in chat groups organize themselves, someone buys hotel rooms for volunteers, others collect humanitarian aid.”
Volunteers set up a bird-rescue headquarters on the first day of the disaster. “Each bird has to be cleaned by hand, first with starch, then with a product like Fairy Liquid. So far, nothing better than household cleaning products has been invented,” Vysotskaya says.
Finding stricken animals in the layer of fuel, that in some places has soaked tens of centimeters into the sand, can be difficult. “It’s quite a task to find a bird that is only visible for its beak sticking out of the oil," Vysotskaya explains. Once cleaned, the birds are sent to a rehabilitation center near Anapa.
Vladimir Latka, the scientific director of the Whale Protection Fund, told a Russian media outlet that the oil spill threatens the population of at least one species of dolphin.
“Taman Bay is the birthplace of the Black Sea bottlenose dolphins, and 38 fish species from the Sea of Azov and the western Black Sea migrate through the Kerch Strait twice a year. Among them are seven species of endangered fish,” the marine biologist told independent media outlet Xolod.
Volunteer Galina from the Temryuk district of Krasnodar Krai has been helping collect fuel oil in bags.
"All the stores around Anapa are giving out respirators and other protection for free," she says. "They are ordinary people, just like us. So, it turns out we are saving ourselves. As usual, by the way."
