The perpetrators of the spill of fuel oil in the Kerch Strait are named
The reason for the collapse of the Volgonft-212 and Volgonft-239 tankers in the Kerch Strait in December last year was the violation of the vessels of the courts and shipowners, which ended on November 30, Rostransnadzor came to this conclusion based on the results of his investigation. The damage to the ecosystem of the Black and Azov Seas, inflicted as a result of a fuel oil spill, is estimated at 84.9 billion rubles. At the same time, the perpetrators of the emergency are facing criminal liability, and large -scale inspections and the Ministry of Emergencies are threatened.
The Government Commission for the elimination of the consequences of emergencies caused by the collapse of the Volgonft-212 and Volgonft-239 tankers in the Kerch Strait, published the first results of the investigation of the causes of the incident.
According to the Rostransnadzor Commission with the participation of experts of the Ministry of Transport of Russia and Rosmorrechflot, the responsibility for the accident should be assigned to the captains of tankers and shipowners who violated the shipping regulations.
“The main causes of emergency cases are the failure to fulfill the captains of the courts and the shipowners of restrictions on the season of swimming ships in the sea waters of the Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait. In addition, the crews of the courts were not equipped with qualified personnel in accordance with the legal acts of the Ministry of Transport of Russia, ”said Roman Starovoit, Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation, adding that the investigation materials will be transferred to the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation.
As previously reported by Kommersantthe prosecutor’s office attracted Volgaatransneft CJSC, a shipowner and operator of one of the tankers, as well as Kama Shipping LLC, the operator of another tanker, to administrative responsibility for the fact that the River -More ships were in the Kerch Strait near the port of the Caucasus after November 30, 2024 – the date of completion of the core.
The operators justified their actions by the fact that, due to the large accumulation of ships at the port of the Caucasus, the captains did not manage to unload fuel oil in a timely manner and return to one of the river ports.
During the meeting of the Government Commission, the amount of damage caused by the Black and Azov seas was announced for the first time for the first time as a result of the crash of tankers with fuel oil. The total amount of the requirements presented to the company-minted companies amounted to 84.9 billion rubles, including the incident with the Volgonft-239 tanker-more than 35.4 billion rubles, according to the Volgoneft-212 tanker-more than 49.4 billion rubles, said the head of Rosprirodnadzor Svetlana Radio. The shipowners are invited to repay the damage within a month, in case of refusal, the amounts presented will be recovered in court.
Participants in the meeting of the Government Commission noted that on the coastal strip of the resort city of Anapa and the Temryuk district, the work of cleaning the fuel oil, which takes ashore by the surf, divers collect oil products from the bottom of the sea. The head of the Ministry of Emergencies Alexander Kurenkov said that rescuers are conducting daily environmental monitoring in the emergency zone and will control it until the consequences of the accident are completely eliminated. Meanwhile, the prosecutor general of Russia Igor Krasnov, during a speech in the Federation Council on April 2, made it clear that the supervisory department had questions for rescuers.
“Volunteers, not the forces of the Ministry of Emergencies and other departments, began to eliminate the consequences of the disaster,” said the Prosecutor General.
Earlier, at the board of the Prosecutor General’s Office, he noted that the Ministry of Emergencies is waiting for a comprehensive audit and that verification measures regarding the tanker fleet of Russia are already being held.
In the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation notedthat in the investigation of the criminal case of the collapse of tankers in the Black Sea, the investigation will take into account all the materials received, including the results of the technical investigation. In the framework of a criminal case on violation of the rules of traffic safety and the operation of sea transport (Article 263 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), technical and environmental examinations are carried out, several defendants are charged. If we take into account the conclusions of the government commission, the main responsibility will fall on the captains.
