Russian oil spill contaminates 50km of Black Sea beaches

Russia Wednesday expanded an operation to clean up thousands of tonnes of oil that spilt into the sea and contaminated 50 kilometres of beaches after tanker ships were wrecked in a storm.

An ageing Russian oil tanker broke up and sank and another ran aground Sunday in a strait linking the Azov and Black Seas, between Moscow-annexed Crimea and southern Russia's Krasnodar region, known for its beach resorts.

Russia's emergencies ministry said Wednesday it was working on cleaning up 49 kilometres (30 miles) of beaches from the resort of Anapa north to the port of Temryuk, and patrolling a total of 70km of beaches.

The two tankers were carrying around 9,000 tonnes of oil and satellite monitoring suggests around 3,000 were spilt, TASS state news agency reported.

Satellite images showed that oil is still leaking out of the sunk tanker, TASS reported Wednesday, citing Crimean marine researcher Sergei Stanichny, with strong winds pushing the oil towards southern Russia's beaches.

The beach resort of Anapa, with a population of around 90,000 people, on Tuesday declared an state of emergency.

The number of volunteers and emergency workers "has increased to 2,700", the emergency situations ministry said Wednesday.

They were shovelling up black oil from beaches and removing it in plastic sacks and digger trucks.

It said they had collected about 80 tonnes of oil and cleaned up more than eight kilometres (five miles) of beach.

Among those taking part were around 400 Cossacks, a people living in the steppes of Russia and Ukraine, Anapa's mayor's office said.

Volunteers in the city were working to remove oil from birds at a rescue point, TASS reported.

Foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova appealed for volunteers on her Telegram channel, saying "Anapa is battling the oil spill and trying to save beaches. Those famous beaches with golden sand that hundreds of thousands tourists flock to each year".