Two oil tankers (one with drunken captain) collide on Lena, spill 60–90 tons of high-octane gas into Siberia’s great river

Two oil tankers collided on Monday, June 12, while going down the Lena, one of Russia’s great Siberian rivers. According to the first assessments, 60–90 tons of high-octane AI-92 gasoline have spilled into the river as a result, as admitted by Irkutsk Governor Igor Kobzev.

According to the East-Siberian Transport Prosecution Office, the disaster may have occurred because one of the captains involved had been drunk: at the time of collision, his first mate was in charge.

The spill was made far worse by the ship’s owner, who only reported the incident to emergency responders an hour after the fact.

Emergency-response groups have been organized in riverside locations, partly in order to keep locals from taking drinking water from the river, either for themselves or for their livestock. According to the governor, the prosecutor’s office has launched a criminal case.

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