(Reuters) – Russian rescue workers have cleared more than 86,000 metric tons of sand and contaminated soil on both sides of the Kerch Strait following an oil spill in the Black Sea last month, the emergency ministry said on Saturday.
Oil leaked from two older ships that were hit by a storm on Dec. 15. One sank and the other fell to the ground.
More than 10,000 people have worked to clean up the viscous, foul-smelling oil slick from the sandy beaches of Anapa, a popular summer resort. Environmental groups have reported deaths of dolphins, porpoises and seabirds.
The emergency minister said on the Telegram messaging app that oil-contaminated soil had accumulated in Russia's vast Kuban region and Crimea, which Moscow annexed from Kyiv in 2014.
The ministry released a video showing several workers wearing protective suits loading bags of dirt onto diggers and others shoveling out dirt with sand.
Russia's transport ministry said this week that experts had determined that about 2,400 metric tons of oil products had spilled into the sea, a smaller spill than initially feared.
At the time of the disaster, media reported that the trucks, both over 50 years old, were carrying about 9,200 metric tons (62,000 barrels) of oil product.
The spill involved heavy M100-grade oil that solidifies at a temperature of 25 degrees Celsius (77 degrees Fahrenheit) and, unlike other oil products, does not float to the surface but sinks to the bottom or remains suspended in the water column.