Russia Faces Major Oil Spill Disaster

(CBS/AP)  Rescuers on Monday recovered the bodies of three sailors after a Russian freighter sank near the Black Sea, while officials assessed damage from an oil tanker spill that could be the worst environmental disaster in the region in years.

The bodies of sailors from the freighter Nakhichevan were recovered near Tuzla on the western side of the Strait of Kerch, a narrow waterway linking the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. Emergency Situations spokesman Sergei Kozhemyaka said rescuers were looking for five others.

The Nakhichevan was one of two freighters that broke up as 18-foot waves and high winds battered ships throughout the region. As many as 10 ships sank or ran aground in the northern Black Sea region during the fierce storm, including the Volganeft-139, an oil tanker loaded with nearly 1.3 million gallons of fuel oil.

Nearly half its cargo spilled into the strait and was washing up on nearby shorelines in what officials said it could be the worst environmental disaster in the region in years.

After rescuing the Russian tanker's 13 crew members, workers began what could be a long-term effort to clean up the spill. They shoveled the tar-like, oil-laden sands and seaweed into piles on the shore as slick-covered waters lapped at their boots. Oil covered birds could be seen trying to swim flap their wings.

Anatoly Yanhuck, a regional coast guard officer, said workers would begin pumping oil from the tanker once the weather improves, then tow the ship to port.

Investigators will question the ship's captain but Yanhuck said the weather appeared to have been worse than forecast.

Maxim Stepanenko, a regional prosecutor, told Vesti 24 television on Sunday that captains had been warned about the stormy conditions. He said the Volganeft-139 - designed during Soviet times to transport oil on rivers - was not built to withstand a fierce storm.

The Nakhichevan and the other freighter together were carrying about 7,150 U.S. tons of sulfur, which also spilled into the waters.

Russian environmental officials said the sulfur did not appear to pose any environmental danger. Jim Farr, a chemist with the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, compared the spill to dumping a load of sand in the water and smothering a reef, or covering a patch of grass with a blanket.

However, he said that it was difficult to know the long-term effects without better knowledge of the area's depth and currents.

Vesti 24 also reported the sinking of a Russian freighter carrying metal near the port of Sevastopol on Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula. Two members of its 16-man crew drowned and one was missing, it said.

Federal investigators have also began a criminal investigation into San Francisco Bay's worst oil spill in nearly two decades by questioning crew members of a container ship that struck the Bay Bridge, ripping a gash in its fuel tank.

It was in thick fog that the container ship hit a support on the Bay Bridge, ripping open two fuel tanks, reports CBS News correspondent John Blackstone.

The ship struck the bridge early Wednesday, causing no structural damage to the span but leaking some 58,000 gallons of fuel oil into the bay. The thick, toxic fuel has fouled miles of coastline, forced the closure of nearly two dozen beaches and piers and killed dozens of seabirds.

[sepherin]

ndjam to answer your question they are gonna have to contain the oil in a giant facility and remove it from the water. Havent you ever played Metal Gear Solid 2: Son of Liberty?
Seph

[sepherin]

All I got to say is good jod stupid....Now EPA has to spend billions to fix your idiotic mistake thats comming out of the taxes..........
Seph

[alphaa10-2009]

One partial remedy for spills of this nature is the double-hulled tanker. While even these vessels can leak, the double-hulled design is far more effective in containment of a liquid cargo.

Predictably, the world''s tanker owners are not about to scrap their tanker fleets until they sink them or run them all aground. They would rather pay a lobby big bucks to stall legislative action than to modernize their fleets.

Until the world says, "Enough of this toxic shhjt", private operators will continue to ignore the burden they blithely place on everybody else.

[starleo146]

They haven''t cleaned up Chenoble yet, do you think they care about the planet,

[ndjam]

Rontimcoe, China has been doing this for years(poisoning our people). The Chinese want to control the world and they know that they cant invade the U.S militarily so they use poison. This is why the cancer rate keeps going up here. Also A cousin of mine who lives in Tajikistan has told me that his nation is bracing for an invasion by China that can happen at any time. This is why Tajikistan allows the U.S. to have a military base there.

[ndjam]

This is horrifying!! How do you clean this up? The world as we know it is being destroyed by these cheap, greedy, filthy oil companies, and we have to conserve. Are you kidding me? This kind of disaster amounts to centuries of saving energy. Where is the nobel prize winner Al Gore now? Why isnt he going nuts about all these big, wealthy, greedy companies who still use world war 1 ships to deliver oil and fuel???

[Rontimcoe]

I would like to know when at least one politition is going to have the balls to acuse the Chinese of poisoning our people, our babies, our pets, and now... our San Francisco bay.

Isn''t it obvious to anyone but me that this is being done on purpose ???????
Geese, get a clue.
I''m sure they already know this but are too afraid to admit it.
When did this country become a nation of pansies ?? We used to be a country that was feared by our enemies.

[bequialife]

What the f^ck is going on with oil spills the last few years?! Are people that irresponsible and non-caring about our environment, the wildlife and its habitat as to be so careless about their actions? This planet is really going to hell; we are suppose to be more "environmentally conscience" these days, being green, driving smaller cars with high MPG, recycling, yet, their are more environmental disasters more than ever. Lets all just be careless! This generation is a disgrace!

[rfcnj68]

I guess you knuckle heads forgot to read the hole story not only is Russia''s spill in here but so is the fact that another ship hit the Bay Bridge and ripped it''s fuel tanks open in another environmental disaster. You people just don%u2019t get it we can only screw this plant up so much before it becomes uninhabitable for humans and I don%u2019t know about you but I don%u2019t see the Starship Enterprise circling the plant to save us all. Guess when the cockroaches take over they will do a better job.

[tbweb]

It will be interesting to see how Russia handles this disaster. Many were disappointed with the way Russia handled the Chernobyl nuclear disaster! With all these natural disasters, wild fires, major oil spills and Global Warming, do nations really need weapons of mass destruction? It looks like humans are doing a pretty good job destroying themselves and Earth without them and all weapons of mass destruction will do is speed up an ongoing destruction already in progress! Hopefully Russia will put a hold on its new military spending and use those funds to clean this mess up properly, but don''t hold your breath!