Emergency Crews Rush To Clean Up Fuel Spill In Siberian Arctic

Firefighters battle a blaze that erupted at a power plant in a metallurgical facility near the industrial Arctic city of Norilsk after a tank collapsed and caused fuel to combust. 

The plant is owned by a subsidiary of Norilsk Nickel, the world's leading nickel and palladium producer, which said the incident was caused when the foundation pillars of a storage tank built on permafrost collapsed. The company said the collapse was caused by the permafrost melting as a result of warming due to climate change.

Cleanup operations are now under way in Siberia after at least 20,000 tons of diesel fuel leaked from the plant and seeped into the soil, two rivers, and a lake downstream.

The Ambarnaya River outside Norilsk. Local rivers have been colored red by the massive fuel leak. 

A satellite image released by the World Wildlife Fund shows the extent of the crimson spill in the waterways near Norilsk.

A photo issued by the environmental watchdog Greenpeace Russia illustrating the impact that the leak has had on the local environment. 

A helicopter view of the spill on June 2

Employees from the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry have been mobilized to tackle the diesel spill. 

Trucks have been deployed at the scene to help with cleanup operations. 

Emergency workers are still battling to contain the damage, days after the incident.  

They have been using pumps in their efforts to remove the pollution caused by the diesel fuel in the Ambarnaya River outside Norilsk.

Additional workers from Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry have been flown in to help deal with the aftermath of the spill, which Greenpeace has described as the "first accident of such a scale in the Arctic."

The Emergency Situations Ministry has erected tents at the site to accommodate the workers who have been brought in to deal with the effects of the accident. 

Russian Emergency Situations Minister Yevgeny Zinichev (front row, second from right) and Krasnoyarsk Governor Aleksandr Uss (front row, second from left) inspect the aftermath of the accident on June 4. 
 

A photo from a previous chemical spill in the area in September 2016 shows puddles of bright red, polluted water on the banks of the River Daldykan near Norilsk. At the time, officials said the pollution may have been caused by a broken pipe at a Norilsk Nickel facility. 

An investigator interrogates Vyacheslav Starostin, who was in charge of the power plant where the incident occurred. On June 4, a regional court ordered that Starostin be placed in pretrial detention until July 31. He was charged with negligence and violating environmental regulations.