An oil spill off Russia’s Black Sea coast has contaminated an area at least 400 times bigger than initially estimated, scientists say. The spill took place on Saturday, August 7, at a Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) oil terminal near the port city of Novorossiysk. The CPC, which pumps in oil from Kazakhstan, addressed the spill two days later, claiming that an equipment breakdown caused 12 cubic meters of oil (12,000 liters) to spread over 200 square meters (2,153 square feet). Though the consortium claimed that the situation was “normalized” as of August 8, Russian scientists later reported that on that same day, the oil spill covered an area of 80 square kilometers (31 miles). Russia’s natural resources regulator is currently working at the site of the accident to establish just how much oil spilled into the sea. Russian investigators also opened a felony case for environmental damage.
Russia's War Against Ukraine
Meduza: Russian scientists say the Black Sea oil spill is 400 times larger than reported
This handout photograph taken and released by the Kamchatka regional government, on Aug. 12, 2021, shows Emergency Situations Ministry workers taking part in the rescue operation at the spot where a helicopter crash-landed into Kuril Lake in the Kronotsky nature reserve on the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia outside Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. Ahelicopter carrying 16 tourists and crew on a volcano sightseeing trip in Russia's far east crashed into a lake on Aug. 11, 2021, leaving eight people feared dead and two others in serious condition, local officials said.
