Early in the morning of 15 December 2024, two Russian Project 1577 Volgoneft oil tankers, Volgoneft-212 and Volgoneft-239, were caught in a storm just south of the Kerch Strait. Volgoneft-212, which was reportedly carrying about 4,900 tonnes of mazut, broke in two and sank, resulting in an oil spill and the death of one crew member. Volgoneft-239 was damaged, causing her to drift for several hours until she ran aground near the Port of Taman, Krasnodar Krai. She, too, began leaking oil.
Both ships still had some of their cargo intact and the oil leak on Volgoneft-239 was stopped by the next day, with an estimated spillage of either 2,400 or 5,000 tonnes. Reports of puddles of oil making landfall between the Crimean Bridge and the town of Anapa began on 17 December, with about 37 miles (60 kilometres) of coastline becoming polluted. As a result, a state of emergency was declared in the Anapsky and Temryuksky Districts that day.
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