Two Russian tankers wreck in Kerch Strait storm, killing one sailor and risking ‘one of largest environmental disasters’ ever in Black Sea

Russian emergency workers scrambled on Sunday to rescue the crew members of two oil tankers that suffered accidents as severe weather hit the Kerch Strait. Federal officials are now hurrying to contain the environmental fallout of an oil spill that Greenpeace warns could become “one of the largest environmental disasters in the Black Sea.”

Severe weather in the Kerch Strait damaged a Russian tanker with 13 crew members aboard, killing one sailor and spilling oil into the Black Sea. Russia’s Federal Emergency Management Ministry says it dispatched an Mi-8 helicopter to assist the crew, while a tugboat from the Kamysh-Burun harbor in Kerch also set out to provide aid.

Russian state officials say the “Volgoneft-212” tanker was hauling roughly 4,300 tons (more than 1.3 million gallons) of petroleum products when it sustained damage in a storm and ran aground. Rescuers confirmed one fatality among the 13 crew members when evacuating the tanker.

Later, rescuers reported that another cargo vessel had run into trouble in the Kerch Strait — the “Volgoneft-239” tanker, with 14 crew members on board and more than 4,000 tons (roughly 1.3 million gallons) of petroleum products. The second ship reportedly began drifting after sustaining storm damage. According to the Telegram channel Shot (which maintains close ties to Russia’s law enforcement and national security apparatus), both tankers encountered distress when located about eight kilometers (five miles) offshore.

Baza (another Telegram channel with similar sources) reported that emergency service workers soon began rescuing the second ship’s crew, whose situation proved to be less severe than the Volgoneft-212’s. The state news agency RIA Novosti confirmed that the authorities had managed to establish contact with the Volgoneft-239’s crew, who remained onboard. Emergency workers later reported that the drifting vessel had run aground 80 meters (almost 90 yards) from the shore near the port of Taman in Russia’s Krasnodar region. At the time of this writing, plans were underway to evacuate the crew.

Footage of the disaster, circulated on Telegram, shows one of the tankers splitting in two after being struck by a wave.

Russia’s Federal Maritime and River Transport Agency has reported an oil spill at the site of the tanker accidents. Emergency response teams from the Federal Marine Rescue Service and the Federal Emergency Management Ministry are working to contain the environmental impact, though the exact scale of the spill remains unclear at this time. Svetlana Radionova, the head of Russia’s Federal Supervisory Natural Resources Management Service, told reporters that specialists are conducting necessary measurements to assess the situation.

Among the key causes of the accident under review is crew error under severe weather conditions, a source in Russia’s maritime search and rescue services told Interfax. “There is a severe storm in the area of the wreck. Preliminary data suggest that the crews of one or both tankers may have struggled with the harsh conditions and made navigation errors. As a result, one vessel sustained critical damage to its bow, while the other also suffered serious damage,” the source said. Russian officials based in Crimea reported a storm in the Kerch Strait reaching up to 7 on the Beaufort scale, with wind speeds up to 50–61 kilometers per hour (32–38 mph). Federal investigators opened criminal cases alleging violations of maritime transport safety regulations. After officials confirmed the death of one crew member, one of the cases was reclassified under a more severe charge. 

Vladimir Putin has appointed Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Saveliev to head a task force responsible for containing the potential environmental damage of the accident in the Kerch Strait.

The Volgoneft-239 is registered at the port of Astrakhan under an owner and operator listed as “Volgotransneft.” Meanwhile, the first ship reported in distress, the Volgoneft-212, is registered in St. Petersburg and is owned and managed by the Perm-based companies “KamaTransOil” and “Kama Shipping.”

Journalists at iStories studied port records from recent months and found that the Volgoneft-212 and Volgoneft-239 tankers shuttled between the Kavkaz port in the Kerch Strait and oil refinery terminals along the Volga River. Over the past six months, the Volgoneft-212 was loaded with fuel oil twice at the Saratov Refinery. On one occasion, it transported heavy export-grade fuel oil from the Syzran Refinery. The Russian oil giant Rosneft owns both facilities.

Greenpeace warns that the accident could become one of the largest environmental disasters in the Black Sea, with current conditions making it extremely challenging to contain the spill. “Any spill of oil or oil products in these waters can have severe consequences. The impact depends on prevailing winds and currents (currently moving northeast), and it will be very hard to contain the spill in these weather conditions. If the crude oil reaches the shore, it will contaminate the coastline, making cleanup exceedingly difficult. […] If the ships sink, there is a risk of long-term oil and oil product leakage into the water,” Greenpeace Research Laboratories head Paul Johnston told Meduza.

Meanwhile, ecologist Sergey Gribalyev told the Telegram channel Pdmnews that “4,000 tons is, of course, a significant amount,” but the environmental impact will depend on how quickly the spill can be contained.