On January 21, 2019, two tankers carrying hydrocarbon fuel caught fire in the Black Sea at the entrance to the Kerch Strait. The ships were flying the flag of Tanzania, on board were the citizens of India and Turkey. As a result of the emergency, many sailors were killed or disappeared, the causes of the accident are being investigated.
State of emergency in the area of the Kerch Strait
An emergency accident on cargo ships occurred on the evening of January 21 in the Black Sea in neutral waters, 16 miles from the coast of the Krasnodar Territory. At the entrance to the Kerch Strait anchored under the flags of "Tanzania" were the tankers "Maestro" and "Kandy" (earlier called "Venice"). Suddenly, on one of the ships, an explosion first occurred, then a fire started. This was reported on land in a timely manner by eyewitnesses - sailors of a nearby ship passing by.
The fire quickly spread from one tanker to another, while the affected vessels themselves did not give distress signals. In an attempt to escape from the fire, the sailors "Maestro" and "Kandy" jumped into the water. According to Rosmorrechflot, 32 people were present on two tankers before the incident, all of them are citizens of Turkey and India.
As of January 24, 2018, the ships of the Black Sea Fleet managed to save 12 people from the disastrous “Maestro” and “Kandy” and send the injured on different ships to the port of Kerch. In addition, a dozen bodies of the dead were found, the rest of the sailors are reported missing.
The situation was complicated by the fact that it is dangerous to extinguish burning fuel with traditional methods. The rescue operation was reclassified as a search operation, since the chances of finding survivors in a terrible fire on January 22 were nullified.
A criminal case has been opened under article 109 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (causing death by negligence), the press service of the IC of Russia reports. On January 24, the Kandy tanker, on which the fuel was burned down, began to be demolished to the Russian shores, and it was taken in tow by the vessel "Rescuer Demidov".
Possible causes of fire
The main alleged cause of the fire on tankers in the area of the Kerch Strait, experts call a safety violation during the operation of transferring fuel from ship to ship. According to media reports, tankers left the port of Temryuk in the Kuban, and together they could transport more than 4.5 thousand tons of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).
Experts noted the unsatisfactory condition of the tankers themselves, made back in 1990-1992. In addition, among the causes of an emergency at sea, experts call inadequate training of maritime workers. The editor-in-chief of the Maritime Bulletin Mikhail Voitenko, whose words are conveyed by RIA Novosti, believes that "qualified sailors do not work on such ships."
