The scientific and environmental center for saving dolphins “Delfa” reports that more than 30 dolphins died due to a fuel oil spill after a tanker crash in the Kerch Strait.
The message says: “Since the emergency, we have recorded 61 dead cetaceans, of which 32 individuals died after December 15, the death of which was most likely associated with a fuel oil spill. The rest died before the emergency – very old bodies. Almost every day we receive information about new dead dolphins, we keep records and regularly transmit data to government agencies. For this period of time (outside the release season), such a number of deaths is an atypically large figure. Judging by the condition of the bodies, most likely the bulk of these cetaceans died in the first 10 days after the disaster. And now the sea continues to carry them out, mainly the Azov cetaceans, which have always been the most vulnerable cetaceans.”
On December 15, fuel oil tankers Volgoneft 212 and Volgoneft 239 sank in the Kerch Strait. They could transport up to 10,000 tons of petroleum products. Environmentalists from Greenpeace warned after the crash that the crash could lead to the largest man-made disaster in the Black Sea.