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DOZENS OF SEA mammals have been found dead since last month’s Russian oil tanker spill in the Black Sea, a dolphin rescue centre has said.
The spill began on 15 December, when two ageing Russian tankers were caught in a storm off the Kerch Strait linking Crimea to southern Russia.
One sank and the other ran aground, pouring around 2,400 tonnes of a heavy fuel oil called mazut into the surrounding waters, authorities estimate.
Russia’s Delfa centre, which rescues and rehabilitates dolphins, said it had recorded 61 dead cetaceans since the incident, 32 of whom “most likely” died due to the spill.
Cetaceans are a type of aquatic mammal that includes whales, dolphins and porpoises.
“Judging by the condition of the bodies, most likely the bulk of these cetaceans died in the first 10 days after the disaster,” it said on Telegram.
It said most of those killed were “Azov” dolphins — a type of harbour porpoise that look similar to dolphins but are more closely related to belugas and narwhals.
Russia’s emergency ministry said today that it was working to clean up after the incident but that “strong winds and waves” had thrown oil onto some beaches.
“More than 68 kilometres of coastline have been cleaned,” it said.
In a further statement today, the ministry said two new oil slicks had been discovered.
One was off the seaside resort of Anapa and the other in the bay of Kapsel, it said in a statement cited by the Russian news agency TASS.
The news agency said the second slick was two kilometres long.
Hundreds of volunteers have been deployed to scoop up contaminated soil from beaches in Crimea and along Russia’s southern coast.
The type of fuel oil involved in the incident is particularly hard to clean because it is dense and heavy and does not float on the surface, Russian authorities say.
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Everyone loves to hear that the heat will be hear straight after the weekend. Nothing like a hot sweaty non air conditioned office on a Monday. Dreams really do come through
Here I know
What do the dreams come through?
I hope it wont be like last weekends heatwave, anymore heatwaves like that and we’ll drown.
25 Celsius last weekend they said,Sun splitting the stones they said….my arse
I heard the same for last wknd ffs
Yer one in the picture should get of her arse and bring those 3D specks back to the cinema.
*off
Thanks qwerty.
“The UK is set for a mini heatwave with temperatures reaching the low 30s.”
Sure good for them.
Not really. Ever used the Tube during rush hour while there’s a heatwave? London is an open-space torture chamber as far as hot weather is concerned.
27deg here today, not a cloud in the sky
Yeah but these forecasts never apply to Sligo. The county that sun forgot. Wont put my wet gear away just yet!!!
So true, nowhere does the article mention this is a forecast for Dublin which it is. Tired of Dublin centric journalism like the rest of the country is another continent.
Another bogger with a chip on his shoulder..
You should cross the M50 sometime Daffy, some villages there still don’t have an idiot.
September will be a good month it usually is
Unless you’re a labourer or a farmer the weather is irrelevant as you spend all your time inside anyway.
And if your an office worker in an office with no air conditioning does the weather not concern you then?
Just strip down and you’ll be fine. You don’t have to work in pouring rain.
I’d take pouring rain over BO, heatstroke and short tempers any day.
I feel a flu coming on
And we’ll all be lighting fires/stoves or putting the heating on, the following weekend.
2 nice days and then back to the rain again
I’ll believe it when I see it…
25c is midwinter temp here in The Sunshine State.
Wexford?
Being south east is the only thing in common between Wexford and Florida.
I’m going to be twice as red next week..
Would they ever shut up , there will be no heat wave . It’s pissing here in Wicklow !
We shall see!!!
I hope that the 1st weekend in September is dry and sunny
have your say