This video was recently captured in the Kerch Strait, a waterway connecting the Sea of Azov to the Black Sea. And these are Russian oil tankers that recently sustained damage during a storm and are now spilling fossil fuels. Veuer’s Tony Spitz has the details.
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00:00This video was recently captured in the Kerch Strait, a waterway connecting the Sea of Azov
00:05to the Black Sea, and these are Russian oil tankers that recently sustained damage during a
00:10storm and are now spilling fossil fuels. One of the ships ran aground just 260 feet from shore,
00:16with all 14 crew members able to evacuate and move to safety. However, the other ship,
00:20which split in half during the tempest, left one crew member dead. According to TASS news agency,
00:26at the time of the evacuations the pair were carrying some 62,000 barrels of oil. It is
00:31unclear how much of that has made its way into the surrounding waters. Experts say this points
00:35to a grander problem with Russia's aging shadow fleet, ships which often travel with their
00:40automatic identification turned off. They also operate under many different flags,
00:44illegally circumventing international sanctions, though they still use commercial shipping lanes.
00:49These two ships, for instance, were originally built back in the late 60s and early 70s. This
00:54could end up being the worst environmental disaster to occur in the area in years.