Russian Tanker Ship Oil Spill Of Black Sea Pollution, 4 Thousand Volunteers Clean The Beach

UNSPLASH/Fabrice Nerfin ILLUSTRATION

JAKARTA - The oil spill from a damaged Russian tanker hit by a storm polluting a long stretch of sandy beaches along the coastline of the Black Sea,

This pollution threatens wildlife in one of the worst ecological disasters that hit the region in as many years.

Around 4,000 volunteers cleared the beach near the tourist city of Anapa from the spill of two tankers.

The emergency ministry said the cleaning operation was carried out along 49 km (30 miles) of coastline.

Reported by Reuters on Wednesday, December 18, many videos posted on social media showed birds sprinkling in oil, tapping its wings and difficulty flying. Black oil nodes are also visible along the coast.

"It's impossible to breathe, I think it was my car that emitted smoke. The oil has reached us. I can't go any further, it's oil, oil, oil," said a man in a video posted on social media.

The tanker that was hit by the storm was over 50 years old. Tankers carry about 9,200 metric tons (62,000 barrels) of oil products in total, the TASS news agency reported, but the scale of the leak is still unknown.

The ships were in the Kerch Strait between mainland Russia and Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014, when emitting a danger signal.

Russian authorities have declared a state of emergency in several districts, including in Anapa, a popular tourist destination near the Azov Sea.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Maria Zakharova asked volunteers for help.

Anna fights oil spills, saves the coast. The famous beach with its golden sand, which is visited by hundreds of thousands of tourists every year," he wrote.