Dozens of dolphins and other marine mammals have been found dead after a massive oil spill in Russia

Thirty-two dolphins have died since fuel oil leaked from two storm-hit tankers three weeks ago in the Kerch Strait that separates Russian-occupied Crimea from Russia’s southern Krasnodar region, an animal rescue group said Sunday.

Russia’s Delva Dolphin Rescue and Research Center said the deaths were “most likely linked to a fuel oil leak.”

The center said via messaging app Telegram that a total of 61 dead cetaceans – an order of aquatic mammals that includes whales and dolphins – had been recorded since the emergency, but the condition of the carcasses suggested the other 29 died before the spill. .

“Judging by the condition of the carcasses, it is likely that the majority of these cetaceans died in the first ten days after the disaster. Now the sea continues to wash them away,” the center wrote, noting that most of the dead dolphins were dolphins. Endangered Azov species.

Russia’s Emergencies Ministry said on Sunday that officials and volunteers removed more than 96,000 tons of sand and contaminated soil along the coastline of the Anapa and Temryuk districts of the Krasnodar region.

The ministry said it was working to clean the beaches after the accident, but “strong winds and waves” dumped oil on some beaches.

“More than 68 kilometers of coastline have been cleaned,” she added.

The ministry said, in another statement on Sunday, that two new oil spots had been discovered.

She said in a statement carried by the Russian TASS news agency that one of them was off the coastal resort of Anapa and the other was in Kapsel Bay.

The news agency said that the second spot was two kilometers long.

Russian authorities say the type of fuel oil involved in the accident is particularly difficult to clean because it is dense and heavy and does not float to the surface.

Russian-appointed officials in Moscow-occupied Crimea declared a regional emergency on Saturday after oil was discovered on the beaches of Sevastopol, the peninsula’s largest city about 250 kilometers (155 miles) from the Kerch Strait.

On December 23, the ministry estimated that up to 200,000 tons in total may be contaminated with mazut, a heavy, low-quality oil product.

Russian President Vladimir Putin described the oil spill as an “environmental disaster.”

The Kerch Strait is an important global shipping route, providing passage from the inland Sea of ​​Azov to the Black Sea.

It was also a major point of conflict between Russia and Ukraine after Moscow annexed the peninsula in 2014. In 2016, Ukraine took Moscow to the Permanent Court of Arbitration, where it accused Russia of trying to illegally control the region. In 2021, Russia closed the strait for several months.

Mykhailo Podoliak, advisor to the chief of staff of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, described last month’s oil spill as a “large-scale environmental disaster” and called for additional sanctions on Russian tankers.

Oil spills have affected marine life in recent years. Last year, an oil spill that spilled more than 34,000 gallons in a South Louisiana Bayou At least 17 salamanders and three turtles were killed while three ducks and three crocodiles were reportedly covered in oil.

In 2022, A.J Huge diesel gameThousands of animals were killed near New Orleans. The year before that, Louisiana wildlife officials said they had documented more than… 100 birds soaked in oil After a crude oil spill from a refinery, water flooded during Hurricane Ida.

In 2020 at least 38 dead dolphins It washed ashore on the island of Mauritius following a disaster Huge oil spill From a Japanese ship.

Agence France-Presse contributed to the preparation of this report.