New Delhi: Giant waves split a Russian oil tanker into two, spilling more than 2000 tonne of fuel in the Black Sea Ater being caught in a fierce storm, as many as ten ships sank in the Strait of Kerch leading to the Black Sea.
Rescuers saved all the crew members from one of the freighters but eight sailors from the second vessel are still missing.
Stormy weather is keeping clean up crews from mopping up the spill.
Russian environmentalists are saying it could take years to clean up the massive environmental mess.
The eight-meter-high (18-feet) waves also sank two Russian freighters nearby, in the Strait of Kerch, a narrow strait linking the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov to the northeast. The two ships together carried about 6,500 metric tons (7,150 tons) of sulfur, said Sergei Petrov, a spokesman for the regional branch of Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry.
All told, as many as ten ships sank or ran aground in the Strait of Kerch and in the nearby area of the Black Sea.
''There hasn't been such massive emergency in the Strait of Kerch,'' Petrov told The Associated Press.
Rescuers saved all the crew members from one of the freighters but eight sailors from the second vessel were missing. The Russiantanker's 13 crew members were rescued, emergency authorities said.
(With AP inputs)
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