At least one person has died after two Russian tankers were severely damaged, causing a significant oil spill in the Black Sea.
The tankers, identified as the Volgoneft-212 and Volgoneft-239, were battered by stormy weather, according to the Interfax news agency. Emergency rescue operations are underway to save both crews.
Freelance journalist Euan MacDonald tweeted: “Two Russian oil tankers, the Volgoneft-212 and the Volgoneft-239, are in distress in reasonably heavy seas 8km off the Kerch Strait in Ukraine's Russian-occupied Crimea.
“The bow of one of them, the Volgoneft-212, has broken off and 4.3K tons of fuel oil could spill.”
A video shared by MacDonald shows one vessel in distress, sinking into the Black Sea. The crew, all wearing life jackets, can be seen frantically working to prevent further disaster, while oil slicks spread across the water.
The 212, which was built in 1969, was carrying a crew of 13 and a cargo of fuel oil when it ran aground. The 239, the other vessel in distress, has a crew of 14 people and was built in 1973. It has a capacity of around 4,200 tonnes of oil.
More than 50 people and an extensive array of rescue equipment have been dispatched to the area to try and save those still on board.
Kerch Strait is part of the annexed Crimea land that has been a point of conflict since Russia seized it from Ukraine in 2014.
Svetlana Radionova, head of Russia's natural resources watchdog Rosprirodnadzor, said specialists were assessing the damage at the site of the incident.
