11月11日一陣兇猛暴風裡，至少10輛滿載的含硫運油車和貨輪在刻赤海峽受創，一場「巨大」的生態災難在此發生，之後情勢則更為嚴重。至少6名船員喪命於船難。目前海峽狹窄處的風暴增強，無法阻止石油流進海域，也難以清理外洩石油。
「慘況遠比官方宣稱的更為嚴重，」代表北高加索非政府環境看守（NGO Environment Watch）的路多馬卡（Andrey Rudomakha）和庫切蘭科（Victoria Kucherenko）做出上述表示。
第一起意外撞上Volgoneft-139油輪，這艘油輪由8個儲油槽組成，載有4770公噸原油，其中4個外洩；搜索隊找到第二、三、五、六號油槽時，早已空空如也。
因此環境看守推估，至少半數原油——也就是2385噸——已經流向海域。 油汙已擴散至塔曼半島北測亞速海岸，庫庫葛里（Kuchugury）海岸遍是原油凝塊。
「事發原因可追根究底回溯至1999年，當時俄羅斯在卡夫卡茲（Kavkaz）港口新成立塔曼辦事處，專司刻赤海峽原油和化學物品港務輸送，原油產品、硫和肥料都由小船運往好幾噸的大船。」
刻赤海峽水位淺，且風強勁，小船缺乏任何天然屏障，水龍捲隨時可能發生，因此意外根本是遲早的事。 路多馬卡和庫切蘭科認為，這種原油和化學物品港口從一開始就不應該出現在刻赤海峽！
他們表示，「私營公司利益遠比環保議題更受重視，因此卡夫卡茲和科赤港口都沒有建立有效的油污清理系統。」
他們指出，「塔曼半島的古老土地已經盡是油味。這絕不是投資者所許諾的經濟繁榮。塔曼已滿是死鳥和死魚，僅存污染的海域和海灘。燃油將長久沈積海底，並持續危害該區海洋生態系統。」
A "colossal" ecological catastrophe is growing even larger in the Strait of Kerch where at least 10 oil tankers and cargo ships loaded with sulfur were wrecked in a fierce storm on November 11. At least six sailors died in the wreckage. Now the storm in the narrow strait is getting stronger, so it is not possible to stop the flow of oil into the sea and organize its collection and removal.
"The fuel oil spill was much larger than was officially announced," said Andrey Rudomakha and Victoria Kucherenko of the NGO Environmental Watch on the North Caucasus.
The first disaster hit the tanker Volgoneft-139, which had 4,770 metric tons of fuel oil on board. It split in two spilling fuel oil from four of its eight tanks. The second, third, fifth and sixth tanks were empty when inspected.
So, they calculate, at least half of the fuel oil on board was spilled - about 2,385 tons.
The pollution has spread to the northern side of the Taman Peninsula on the coast of the Azov Sea.The seashore at Kuchugury is severely polluted with lumps of congealed fuel oil.
"The roots of what happened lie with the fact that in 1999, in the Strait of Kerch at the Russian Port Kavkaz, the Taman Handling Complex - a new floating oil-chemical port, was built, through which petroleum products, sulfur and fertilizers are transferred from small sized boats to those that hold many tons.
With its shallow water, high winds, lack of any kind of natural shelter for the boats, and the possibility of the rapid formation of water spouts, an accident was waiting to happen.
"Such an oil and chemical port should never have been created in the Strait of Kerch," say Rudomakha and Kucherenko.
The interests of private companies were considered to be more important than environmental protection, they say, so effective systems to liquidate oil spills were not created either in the Port Kavkaz or in the Kerch Port.
"The ancient land of Taman has gotten a full taste of what oil is. This is by no means economic prosperity, as many investors have promised. It is dead birds and fish, a polluted sea and beaches. The fuel oil left on the bottom of the sea will be long remembered, and will continue to poison the region’s maritime ecosystem for many years." say Rudomakha and Kucherenko.
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