"Nakhodka" left many stains
Investigators from the prosecutor's office are looking for who blew it up
Today, with a high probability, it can be argued that the death of the Nakhodka tanker in the Sea of ​​Japan is of a criminal nature. Russian Transport Minister Nikolai Tsakh said the accident was caused by an explosion. Law enforcement agencies that began investigating the incident put forward a sensational version: the tanker was blown up in order to cover up traces of the theft of petroleum products worth just under $3 million.

The sailors on the sinking tanker only had time to have breakfast
The criminal case initiated in connection with the Nakhodka crash became known only after the Japanese side insisted on creating a new commission to investigate the causes of the tanker accident. Having begun to study the causes of the disaster, prosecutors first of all drew attention to a number of strange circumstances that accompanied the accident.

The Nakhodka tanker, carrying 20 thousand tons of fuel oil, crashed on January 2, 1997, 105 kilometers from the Japanese island of Oki. The stern of the ship sank, plunging to a depth of 2,500 meters, and the bow was thrown aground by waves near the town of Mikuni on the main Japanese island of Honshu. The entire crew, with the exception of captain Vitaly Melnikov, was saved. According to Japanese experts, about 2-3 thousand tons of oil products spilled from the tanker; As a result, several oil slicks formed on the sea surface.

Prosecutors were surprised that at the time of the disaster, the tanker, for unknown reasons, transmitted the call sign of another Russian merchant ship, which disorganized the work of rescuers for several hours. The shipwreck lasted five hours. During this time, the crew members slowly battened down the hatches and even had time to have breakfast. But for some reason they were unable to save the ship’s documents, including bills of lading (trade declarations) and the oil products loading log. One bag of documents was simply forgotten on board the ship. The other, according to the head of Prisco Traffic Sergei Vetkazov, opened up and all the documents spilled into the water. It is also unclear why captain Viktor Melnikov remained on the deck of the sinking tanker - he had the opportunity to leave Nakhodka along with the last group of crew members.
Due to the loss of documents, it is now impossible to determine how much fuel oil was in the ship’s tanks. To do this, diving work needs to be carried out, but this can only be done in the spring.
The strange circumstances of the accident led prosecutors to two main versions of the accident: a collision with a half-submerged object or an explosion, possibly of a criminal nature. The last option was confirmed, by the way, by the testimony of the sailors. One of them, Alexander Kondras, who was on watch the night of the disaster, denied the assumption that the tanker collided with a half-submerged object. According to him, the mechanics in the engine room did not hear the characteristic grinding of metal on the ship’s hull, but they clearly heard the sounds of an explosion. It should be noted that Russian Transport Minister Nikolai Tsakh officially stated that “the cause of the death of the Nakhodka tanker was not a storm or wear and tear of equipment, but the influence of external forces, most likely in the form of an explosion.” Investigating the version of the explosion, investigators began to consider the motives for such a crime. According to their assumption, it is possible that the Nakhodka was sunk to cover up a large-scale theft of oil products. Therefore, the first thing they tried to do was find out who owned the fuel oil that was transporting the tanker to Kamchatka.

"They already make good money"

The scheme for supplying heating oil to Kamchatka for government needs is as follows. Every year the government allocates quotas for the Kamchatka administration for the export of crude oil (in 1996 it amounted to 1 million 200 tons). The proceeds are used to purchase fuel oil for local thermal power plants. The administration's executor is the Kamchatenergo enterprise, which sells crude oil on the foreign market (through intermediaries) within the quota. To carry out transactions, Kamchatenergo enters into a commission agreement with the operating company.

The head of Kamchatenergo JSC, Evgeny Klochkov, said that the operator and shipper of the fuel oil loaded into Nakhodka were the Chinese company Saynochem and the British Chemo-Petrol. They first sold the oil received under the state quota, and with the proceeds they were supposed to purchase and supply fuel oil to Kamchatka. According to the prosecutor's office, instead of the estimated 19 thousand tons, 2-3 thousand tons could have been purchased for about $3 million. On the way to Kamchatka, the tanker was blown up, and the small amount of fuel that leaked out was supposed to convince that the tanks were full.
The following facts support this version. "Nakhodka" was traveling from Shanghai, the largest, according to law enforcement agencies, Asian center for the smuggling of petroleum products. By the way, the head of Kamchatenergo JSC is surprised that the tanker came from China: in recent years, commission oil operators, like Sainokem and Chemo-Petrol, have been purchasing fuel oil in Singapore or Korea - it is much cheaper there. In addition, according to Klochkov, Kamchatenergo did not receive money for the oil transferred to Sainokem under the state quota.
At the same time, Chemo-Petrol representative Viktor Sakhnyuk rejected all assumptions about the involvement of his management in fraud with the tanker’s cargo. He stated that Chemo-Petrol has never been an oil operator supplying fuel oil to Kamchatka for government needs. Moreover, they never entered into a contractual relationship with Kamchatenergo: “Chemo-Petrol works on direct supplies of petroleum products to Russia, including Kamchatka, along with the companies Sainokem, Yukong-Line and others. For example, for Nakhodka, Chemo-Petrol entered into a contract with the Saynochem company to purchase fuel from them on an “ex-ship” basis (a contract condition under which the seller pays all expenses until the unloading port), that is, we were not the owners of the cargo before arrival it to the port of destination. The ship was chartered by Saynochem, and the cargo belonged to this company."
One of Chemo-Petrol’s long-time partners, a representative of the Kamchatka company Vedis, Vladimir Lutsenko, is sure that there is no crime in this story: “Chemo-Petrol currently provides 30% of the total volume of fuel oil supplies to Kamchatka. It already makes good money, why steal for her."
To finally settle on the version of the explosion, prosecutors need an expert opinion. But there is no way to get it yet: the stern part of the tanker rests at a depth of 2.5 thousand meters, and Japanese rescuers do not allow them to approach the bow part, which ran aground 400 meters off the coast of the Japanese province of Fukui.

DENIS Ъ-DEMKIN, ALEXANDER Ъ-MALTSEV, VADIM Ъ-BRATUKHIN, LEONID Ъ-BERRES

TORRY CANYON TANKER ACCIDENT

Accidents of tankers - vessels for transporting oil - are among the so-called man-made disasters, the cause of which is caused by human economic activities. They happen for many reasons: from negligence in relation to technology and inattention to banal unprofessionalism and “coincidence of circumstances.” However, despite the fact that their overall probability is only 0.4 per 1000 flights, and the probability of an oil spill, depending on the circumstances, is from 0.05 to 0.25, each accident causes enormous damage to people and animals, and the ecology of planet Earth as a whole. The very first serious oil pollution of the ocean occurred with the sinking of the supertanker Torrey Canyon in 1967.

For completeness, this story should begin with brief statistical data. Now the tanker fleet transports half of the oil produced on the world shelf - 1.5 billion tons annually. Moreover, a fifth of the oil is extracted directly from the sea, and 7–8 tons out of 10 are also delivered to processing sites by sea. Such production rates require appropriate vessels, and if in the 1960s the deadweight (full load capacity, or displacement) of tankers was no more than 200 thousand tons, then at the end of the 20th - beginning of the 21st century it already ranges from 500 thousand tons of oil to 1 million. In some areas of the World Ocean there is literally a Babylonian pandemonium. For example, more than 1,000 oil tankers pass through the English Channel, which is 29 km wide, every day, so it is not surprising that the number of accidents here is also high. The peak of tanker accidents occurred in the 1970s and 1980s, but even now serious accidents occur almost every year. And the amount of oil ending up in the ocean is growing in direct proportion to the number and deadweight of tankers.

The worst year in terms of the number of tanker accidents is still 1967: Lloyd's Register mentions 337 ships lost in different areas of the ocean, and 15 of them disappeared without a trace, and the reasons for this have never been clarified. Most of the rest crashed due to the most common factors: water entering the compartments, collisions, fire on board, grounding or reef.

The tanker Torrey Canyon, insured for $18 million, returning from the Persian Gulf, was assigned class 100A1 by Lloyd's Register - the highest for ships of this type. Its crew consisted of 36 people - including captain Pastrengo Rugiati. This tanker was one of the largest in the world - equipped with all the necessary instruments and communications, 296.8 m long, it actually consisted of many floating tanks holding 850 thousand barrels (117 thousand tons) of oil, a small superstructure for the crew and two steam turbines. Torrey Canyon was filled with highly viscous, magnetized Nigerian crude oil, owned by the British Petroleum Company. However, the ship itself was not British: assigned to the capital of Liberia, Monrovia, it belonged to the Barracuda Tanker Corporation, located in Bermuda. The latter was a holding company of the Union Oil company. All these subtleties later became a headache for the plaintiffs, who did not know from whom to demand compensation for the damage.

On March 18, 1967, the tanker came close to the Isles of Scilly - 48 lifeless rocks protruding from the water at a distance of 33-46 km from the Cornwall peninsula in England. At 8:18 a.m., sleep-deprived, Rugiati steered the tanker into one of the passages of the English Channel - 6.5 miles wide and 60 m deep, between Scilly and the granite reef of the Seven Stones, not knowing that large ships were strongly discouraged from using it. In the morning, the strait, as usual, was dotted with fishing vessels, as a result of which the Torrey Canyon was unable to turn in the right place, and already at 8 hours 48 minutes the captain realized that the course was heading straight to the Pollar Rock reef, which is 16 km from Cornwall . The steering switch operated in automatic mode, and as a result, the tanker did not have time to turn: two minutes later, the Torrey Canyon sat on the reef, like on a popsicle stick - Pollar Rock stuck 5 meters into the ship.

Several ships responded to the SOS signals, and a few hours later rescuers were landed on the tanker; the British Navy sent helicopters capable of removing all people from the dying ship if necessary. "Torrey Canyon" by that time was already partially flooded and was hitting the rocks. More than 5 thousand tons of oil spilled from the broken tanks into the sea, and the crew, in order to reduce the weight of the tanker, independently pumped the remaining oil overboard, as a result of which an oil slick with a diameter of about 9 km formed around the ship. As seawater pushes up oil, the Torrey Canyon completely lost buoyancy at the bow and slowly sank to the bottom. Meanwhile, more and more rescue tugs and ships approached the tanker, delivering 4.5 thousand gallons of an emulsifier (detergent) capable of binding oil. On the night of March 18, the tug Utrecht, owned by the Weissmuller company, which had previously saved the famous Mare Nostrum, made an unsuccessful attempt to remove the Torrey Canyon from the reef. After this, almost the entire crew was taken from board: only captain Rugiati, three crew members and two rescuers remained. In the 30 hours that have passed since the crash, the oil slick has already reached dimensions of 27x6 km and went half a meter deep near the tanker.

On Monday, March 20, according to the British leadership, 20 ships with 200 thousand gallons of detergent on board were already involved in cleaning the sea from oil. After a while, it became known that out of 18 Torrey Canyon tanks, 14 were torn apart by the reef. The next day, the oil slick spread over an area of ​​225 km2, and it was moving towards Cornwall, the largest seaside resort in Great Britain. Relations between the British government and the owners of the tanker became increasingly tense. Despite the political turmoil, rescue work did not stop for an hour. At noon on March 22, the dying tanker was rocked by an explosion in the engine room: many crew members were injured, one person died on the way to the hospital, but Weissmuller, which works on the principle “No rescue, no reward” and has already invested a lot of money in the rescue operation, was not going to give up trying to get Torrey Canyon off the cliff. Rescue was seen in pumping the tanker with compressed air so that it floated to the surface, and on March 24–26, the last attempt was made. However, it also failed: three tugboats, the total engine power of which was almost 7 thousand horsepower, compressors working at full capacity, and a high tide, which, it was hoped, would help remove the ship, did not help. The tanker did not move an inch from the reef. Moreover, the hull material could not withstand the constant impacts on the rocks: by 12 noon on March 27, 1967, the Torrey Canyon broke in half and sank.

At that time, a scientific and technical committee was already in operation, which was supposed to consider various options for behavior in the event of failure of the tanker rescue operation. It was decided to destroy the Torrey Canyon, which still had 80 thousand tons of oil left in its tanks, and in case of failure, to fight the oil directly on the coast. The troops of the British Navy had to clear the sea from the film, the thickness of which in other places had already reached 1.5 m, and the land army had to clear the 300-meter-long coastal waters and beaches, 100 km of which were already flooded with oil on Friday. However, in reality, the number of contaminated beaches was much greater: after all, sand that was completely clean, at first glance, could be saturated with oil at a considerable depth, and the only way to detect it was deep harrowing.

On March 28, the Weissmuller Company abandoned further attempts to salvage the remains of the Torrey Canyon, and Union Oil renounced its rights to the tanker in favor of the insurers. Immediately afterwards, British aircraft began bombing it from the air to ignite and burn the oil before it completely flooded the Cornish beaches, since one of the methods of eliminating the consequences of the accident - using underwater demolition shells - was too risky. Buccaneer bombers dropped more than 40 bombs of 450 kg each on the Torrey Canyon crash site, of which only 30 hit the target. Aluminum was added to the main composition of the bombs to increase the flame. Following the bombers, Hunter jet fighters dropped more than 20 thousand liters of gasoline into the growing fire for the same purpose. This was enough for only two hours of a monstrous fire. On March 29, the oil was set on fire with rockets, napalm, which did not work, and again with gasoline; On March 30, about 120 more bombs were dropped. All this time there was thick black smoke over the sea, an unbearable smell and ash flying. This went on for several days, and after examining the sunken tanker on April 7-13, it turned out that there was practically no liquid oil left in it.

Not only England suffered from this disaster. On April 9-11, a film of oil measuring 45x8 km reached Brittany between Les-Haumes and Lannion Bay. The French government, which failed to take any measures to protect its coastline while the oil mass rushed towards it at a speed of 65 km/h, was forced to allocate $3 million to clean up the beaches: in order not to use detergents, but at least somehow connect oil, it was sprinkled with sawdust, and local residents collected it manually with shovels on the shore.

At the same time, all efforts were devoted to cleaning up the coast of Cornwall - the fight against oil had only now begun in earnest. 2,200 British marines and soldiers, 86 pilots, and 78 fire brigades took part in the operation. In contrast to France, there were few volunteers in Great Britain, and they were even less useful. The only exception was the Women's Volunteer Corps. Cleaning up the oil was also complicated by the fact that Cornwall is a fairly rocky area, so people had to get to hard-to-reach areas using ropes dropped from cliffs, and sometimes they, along with supplies of detergent, had to be lowered from helicopters. In the end, the superhuman efforts ended in success. In mid-May, troops returned to their deployment sites, and by early June the beaches were completely cleared of oil. By the end of summer, Cornish resorts were routinely filled with holidaymakers.

We will not go into the political subtleties and background of the operation to rescue the Torrey Canyon tanker. It should only be noted that on April 3, meetings of the commission of inquiry, officially created by the government of Liberia, began in Genoa, which recognized that Pastrengo Rugiati bears full responsibility for the death of Torrey Canyon. The captain himself admitted to gross violations of navigation rules and in September 1967 was deprived of his captain's diploma without the right of restoration. The uproar raised by many observers over the commission's allegedly biased decision, trying to prove that the real culprits were the Barracuda Tanker Corporation or Union Oil, came to nothing. In connection with the accident, three international conventions were soon adopted: the Convention concerning Intervention on the High Seas in the Event of Oil Pollution Accidents, 1969 (a Protocol was adopted in 1973 extending the convention to other hazardous and noxious substances); The International Convention on Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage (1969) and the Convention on an International Fund (1979) that would compensate for damages resulting from the already increased liability of ship operators, beyond $14 million and up to $60 million.

The main theme of the Torrey Canyon accident remains the dire environmental consequences. As the results of the tanker rescue operation showed, the use of chemicals was the best way to combat major oil pollution. But the trouble is that there was too much oil. Even before the bombing of the tanker began, about 50 thousand tons of it leaked; approximately 15 thousand tons of this amount evaporated or dispersed naturally. Thus, 35 thousand tons remained on the surface of the sea. During the operation, approximately 3.5 thousand tons of detergent-emulsifiers were consumed - an amount sufficient to bind 15 thousand tons of oil. And 20 thousand tons of oil, as you know, were washed ashore.

And here everything is not so simple. The fact is that oil floating on the surface in the open sea does not harm marine organisms. However, once treated with detergent, it becomes extremely toxic to marine vegetation and intertidal life. Evidence of this is their death. In the area of ​​the accident, crabs' limbs fell off and they died; More and more dead lobsters were coming across. Sea urchins, mollusks, blennies, clams, sand eels, many species of fish, and in the coastal zone - all mussels died... But the most terrible consequences of the crash affected the birds. Their feathers soaked in oil and detergent lost their water-repellent properties and ceased to retain heat, which led to rapid cooling of the body; the lungs, throat, and intestines, clogged with foam from oil and detergents, were burned. Oil, in addition, caused peritonitis, impaired liver and kidney function, paralysis and blindness. Birds whose feathers were heavily impregnated with oil died without exception; Less than 20% of the victims survived. On the coast of Cornwall alone, 20 thousand guillemots and 5 thousand razorbills died - 90% of the birds in these areas...

The Torrey Canyon accident had a major impact on several aspects of rescue efforts at sea. Its echoes are still heard in many countries of the world - it helped to understand the dangers of environmental pollution and led to the approval of laws and regulations that necessitate the development of new methods of rescue work to prevent pollution of the sea surface in the event of the accident of such giant tankers. Large-scale developments are underway in this area. Thus, the American company Ocean Science and Engineering, under a contract with the US Coast Guard, is designing a special device for pumping oil from a tanker that suffered an accident. British Petroleum, whose oil was transported to Torrey Canyon, is experimenting with the utilization of oil by “consuming” it with microorganisms, and the German company Badische Aniline und Soda Fabrics has created a special type of foam “hygromull”, which is dumped into the sea from the side of the ship, absorbs and holds a significant volume of oil-contaminated water, and is then removed from the sea surface using pumps.

All these measures will be very useful in the oil production and refining industries. After all, the share of tanker accidents is actually negligible: three times more oil enters the water area due to the washing of tanker tanks and the discharge of this water; The waste from petrochemical plants pollutes the seas and oceans four times more intensively, and almost the same amount of oil is supplied by accidents at offshore drilling rigs...

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Human activities often lead to changes in the environment. The more he achieves in the field of technical progress, the more destructively he affects life around him. Particular attention is paid to the issue of ecology by oil, the spill of which cannot be avoided during its production and transportation. Accidents in this industry are particularly harmful to the environment and have serious consequences. Humanity cannot prevent possible disasters. However, it has learned to clean up oil spills. Although these measures are not enough to completely restore the polluted ecosystem. What are oil spills and how are they cleaned up?

Concept

An oil spill is the release of this substance into the environment due to human activity. The cause may be the release of petroleum products or accidents at a number of facilities:

• tankers;
• oil platforms;
• wells;
• drilling rigs.

The consequences of a spill are detrimental to the environment, and their elimination can take several months or many years.

Consequences of the spill

Why is oil dangerous? A spill of this completely natural substance leads to the destruction of all life on the surface of the earth, including water bodies. It spreads for many kilometers, covering everything in its path with a thin layer. This leads to the death of vegetation. Areas affected by oil become unsuitable for the existence of living organisms. The black film covers not only the surface of salty springs. Oil particles can mix with water and penetrate deep into reservoirs. This leads to the death of many marine organisms.

Ecosystem restoration is happening very slowly. So, in 1989, a disaster occurred in Alaska, as a result of which a huge amount of oil spilled (two hundred and sixty thousand barrels). Many millions of dollars were spent to eliminate the accident. Eighteen years later, the area was surveyed and more than twenty gallons of black fuel were found in the sand. Because of this, the ecosystem along the coastline has not yet recovered. According to scientists, the remains of spilled oil are disappearing at a rate of four percent per year of the remaining total mass. That is, it will take more than a dozen years to restore the affected area.

Tanker accidents

Oil is most dangerous (a spill is inevitable due to human activity) for water bodies. It is lighter than water, so it spreads in the form of a thin film, occupying huge areas. The harm caused affects all living organisms, since birds, fish, and mammals die. Fishing and the tourism business suffer from this.

Accidental oil spills often occur due to the use of tankers for its transportation. One of the largest such disasters was the accident on the Exxon Valdez ship, which occurred in 1989 off the coast of Alaska, the consequences of which are described above.

Accidents on the platform

Accidents on offshore platforms are no less dangerous. They produce oil from which oil is pumped, the spill of which becomes catastrophic for the ecosystem of the sea shelf.

The 2010 spill is considered the largest at sea. There was an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon platform. It was not possible to calculate the amount of oil that leaked. However, according to some sources, five million barrels of liquid fuel leaked. The deadly spot covered an area of ​​seventy-five thousand square kilometers. This not only led to well-known environmental consequences, but also almost led the mining company to bankruptcy. The fact is that the blame for such accidents falls on the fishing license holders. They are the ones who are obliged to pay the costs of eliminating the consequences and compensate for the damage to the victims.

Black substances also emerge naturally from cracks at the bottom of seas and oceans. However, oil leaks out of them gradually, in small volumes. The ecosystem manages to adapt to such phenomena. How does humanity correct the consequences of its destructive activities?

Concept of OSR

The elimination of oil spills due to accidents in an abbreviated version is usually called OSR. This is a whole complex of events. They are aimed at removing stains and oil runoff from the surface of soil and water.

OSR methods

Spills of oil and petroleum products are removed by four main methods:

• Mechanical. Collection using specialized equipment.
• Thermal (burning out). It is appropriate for an oil layer of more than thirty-three millimeters. It is used immediately after an accident before mixing the substance with water.
• Physico-chemical. The use of dispersants, sorbents that absorb and retain oil inside.
• Biological. The work of bacteria and fungi to absorb oil residues after applying previous methods.

The sorption purification method (physico-chemical method) is quite effective. Its advantages are that contaminants are removed to the lowest residual concentration. In this case, the process can be controlled. Although maximum sorption is achieved in the first four hours. The method is also unfriendly to the environment, so it is used in special cases.

The most environmentally friendly methods include biological methods. They are used by specialized organizations that have a license to carry out this work. An example of modern biological technology is biocomposting. This is the process of oxidation of oil hydrocarbons using special microflora. As a result, the black substance decomposes into carbon monoxide, water, and biomass. The process takes two to four months. In order to prevent black spots from spreading across the water, booms are widely used. The mass enclosed in them is burned out.

Specialized vessels

Elimination of emergency oil spills is impossible without the use of special equipment. I use vessels both for individual work and for the entire range of activities. Depending on the functional purpose, there are the following types of vessels:

• Oil skimmers. Their task is to independently collect mass from the water surface.
• Boom setters. These are high-speed vessels that ensure the delivery of booms to the disaster area and also install them.
• Universal vessels. They are capable of providing almost all stages of OSR independently.

OSR stages

Elimination of oil and oil product spills from the surface of the water is carried out as follows:

1. Fences are installed to prevent stains from spreading. Oil catchers and oil traps are also used.
2. Sorbents are sprayed, which allow natural dispersion of the poured mass.
3. Mechanical collection is carried out using skimmers, that is, devices for collecting oil products from the water surface.

OSR from soil occurs according to a different scheme. But most often, a universal system is necessary because pollution affects water and land at the same time, like the tragedy off the coast of Alaska. Then it is necessary to take into account regional, climatic and other features.

Elimination of consequences

After completion of the OSR, a special commission is created that inspects the territory and determines the nature and depth of contamination. Further, it is appropriate to use the most effective methods for rehabilitating the contaminated site. The remaining oil is washed off and pumped out. The decomposition of petroleum products is stimulated by liming or milling. In order to reduce the concentration of hydrocarbons in the soil, a stable grass cover is created, that is, phytomelioration is carried out.

Preventing the problem

The adverse impact of oil production on all living things leaves no doubt. Moreover, no means can restore the environment during an oil spill. This is why the industry must adhere to high environmental standards. Oil spill prevention is possible when companies implement new operating standards that take into account negative experience.

In production, the causes of an accident can be a variety of factors that should be taken into account. Steps to minimize leakage are as follows:

• protect the walls of tanks and oil pipelines from corrosion;
• prevent equipment failure;
• do not violate safety regulations;
• Avoid mistakes by working personnel.

Enterprises must cultivate a culture of safe work practices. At the same time, technological means are being developed around the world that can prevent the risk of emergency situations.

Prestige tanker wreck

In third place is again an environmental disaster.

On November 13, 2002, the Prestige oil tanker exploded, spilling 77,000 tons of fuel into the ocean, causing the largest oil spill in European history. Losses during the work to eliminate the oil spill amounted to $12 billion.

Passing the Bay of Biscay on November 13, 2002, the ship encountered a strong storm off the coast of Galicia, as a result of which a 35-meter-long crack formed in the hull, after which the tanker began to leak about 1,000 tons of fuel oil per day. Spanish coastal authorities refused to allow the ship to enter the ports closest to the accident site. An attempt was made to tow the ship to the nearest Portuguese ports, but Portugal banned the emergency tanker from entering its waters. The damaged vessel was towed to sea.

On November 19, 2002, the ship split into two parts and sank 210 km off the coast of Galicia. The remains of the ship lay on the ground at a depth of approx. 3700 m. As a result, more than 20 million gallons of oil spilled into the sea. The oil slick stretched for thousands of kilometers near the coastline, thereby causing enormous damage to all marine and coastal fauna, as well as the local fishing industry. The oil spill became the largest environmental disaster in the history of Spain and Western Europe. The consequences of the disaster are considered more severe than in a similar disaster of the Exxon Valdez tanker.

As a result of the disaster, thousands of kilometers of the Atlantic coast of Europe were affected, and 300,000 volunteers from all over Europe worked to eliminate the consequences of the accident. The total damage from the disaster is estimated at €4 billion.

Jaime Doreste, a lawyer for the Spanish NGO Environmentalists in Action, said the full health and environmental consequences of the oil spill had not been made public. A study published by Spanish ecologists in 2010 reported that Spanish fishermen who took part in coastal cleanups had genetic disorders and lung diseases.

In the coming days, a court in the United States is due to pronounce a verdict on a former engineer at the oil company BP, who tried to destroy correspondence with the company's management, which shed light on the reasons that led to the tragedy.

Oil is one of the most traded products in the world, and this has its own characteristics. The growth of the global oil market in the mid-20th century forced companies to use supertankers to transport it and increase production on the high seas, ignoring all possible risks. As a result, disasters could not be avoided. The miles-long oil spills, which killed thousands of birds and fish in their path, damaged wildlife for decades even after they were contained.

Wreck of the Torrey Canyon tanker (UK)

The Torrey Canyon was one of the first supertankers built and was also responsible for the first large oil spill in modern history.

Initially, the tanker was built to transport 60 thousand tons of oil, but the company that owned the ship, bypassing all regulations, increased the volume of transported oil to 120 thousand tons, which was the main cause of the disaster in 1967.

As a result of a collision with a reef off the Scilly Archipelago in southern Britain, about 110 thousand tons of oil spilled into the sea, creating an oil slick of 270 square miles. About 180 miles of coastline were oiled. About 15 thousand birds and a huge number of animals died before the oil spill was eliminated.

Such significant damage to the environment is explained by the fact that toxic solvents were used to eliminate the oil spill, which as a result turned out to be ineffective.

Sea Star tanker wreck

The South Korean supertanker Sea Star collided with the Brazilian tanker Horta Barbosa off the coast of Oman on the morning of December 19, 1972.

As a result of the collision, a fire started on board the tankers, which forced the crew to urgently abandon the ship. The fire on the Horta Barbosa was extinguished within a day, but the fire on the South Korean tanker could not be extinguished. Sea Star sank on December 24 after a series of explosions.

Wreck of the Liberian tanker Odyssey (Canada)

On November 10, 1988, the Liberian tanker Odyssey crashed 1,300 km off the coast of Nova Scotia (Canada).

The crash spilled 132,157 tons of oil into the sea.

Wreck of the tanker M/T Haven (Genoa)

The tanker M/T Haven, owned by the family of billionaire Stelios Hadji-Ioannou, unexpectedly exploded near Genoa. Five crew members were killed in the flames, and 126 tons of oil spilled into the coastal waters. One of the reasons for the tragedy was the terrible condition of the tanker, which was poorly repaired after being hit by a missile during the Iran-Iraq War.

ABT Summer tanker wreck (Angola)

On May 28, 1991, the ABT Summer tanker, carrying 260 thousand tons of crude oil, exploded at a distance of 1,400 kilometers from the coast of Angola. The ship burned for three days, and its remains were never discovered. Fortunately, the open sea carried the oil in different directions, and serious environmental damage was avoided.

Amoco Cadiz tanker wreck (France)

In 1978, the tanker Amoco Cadiz ran aground off the coast of France. It was not possible to quickly localize the oil leak due to stormy weather.

As a result of the disaster, about 20 thousand birds died. More than 7 thousand people took part in the rescue efforts. 223 thousand tons of oil spilled into the water, forming a spot measuring 2 thousand square kilometers. Oil also spread to 360 kilometers of the French coast. At that time, this accident was the largest environmental disaster in European history.

Castillo de Bellver tanker wreck (South Africa)

The tanker Castillo de Bellver caught fire and broke in half 100 kilometers from Cape Town (South Africa).

More than 250 thousand tons of oil spilled into the Indian Ocean.

The current carried the oil film into the ocean, and the coast of South Africa was not damaged.

Accident on the Nowruz platform (Persian Gulf)

During the 1983 Iran-Iraq War, an oil tanker collided with the Nowruz platform in the Persian Gulf, damaging the well underneath it. The resulting oil leak could not be stopped for several months. The total volume of oil that ended up in the sea was 250 thousand tons.

Oil discharge into the Kolva River (Russia)

The poor condition of the oil pipeline led to oil flowing into the Kolva River (Russia) for eight months. However, heavy rainfall on September 29, 1994 provoked the destruction of the water seals created on the streams to contain the spilled oil. This led to a huge mass of oil entering the Kolva, resulting in pollution extending 30-40 km across the entire width of the river. 265 thousand tons of crude oil fell into the river.

Collision between Atlantic Empress and Aegean Captain (Trinidad and Tobago)

Two tankers Atlantic Empress and Aegean Captain collided off the coast of Trinidad and Tobago. As a result of the collision, both ships caught fire, and 290 thousand tons of oil ended up in the sea. One of the tankers sank. By a happy coincidence, the disaster occurred on the open sea, and not a single coast of the islands was damaged.

Explosion on the Ixtoc I platform (Mexico)

In 1979, a powerful explosion occurred on the Mexican oil platform Ixtoc I due to a sharp surge in pressure, resulting in up to 460 thousand tons of crude oil spilling into the Gulf of Mexico.

It was possible to eliminate the consequences of this accident only a year later, since they were able to stop the oil leak only in a few months. During this time, 460 thousand tons of oil entered the Gulf of Mexico. The total damage is estimated at $1.5 billion.

Deepwater Horizon accident (USA)

British Petrolium's Deepwater Horizon rig sank off the Louisiana coast on April 22, 2010, after a 36-hour fire that followed an explosion.

11 people became victims of the tragedy. Oil continued to leak into the ocean for another 85 days. By August 2010, BP's well had leaked 4.9 million barrels of crude into the Gulf. The leak was one of the biggest disasters in history.

Retreat of the Iraqi Army (Kuwait)

In 1990, defeated Iraqi troops, in order to hinder the landing of the anti-Iraqi coalition in Kuwait, opened the valves at oil terminals and emptied several tankers loaded with oil.

As a result, between 1.5 and 4 million tons of oil spilled into the waters of the Persian Gulf. While military operations were ongoing, no attempt was made to localize the disaster.

Oil covered approximately 1 thousand square meters. km of the surface of the bay and polluted about 600 km of coastline. In order to prevent further oil spills, US aircraft bombed several Kuwaiti oil pipelines.