Volunteers battle to clear spilled oil on Russia's Black Sea coast

By Sergei Pivovarov

VITYAZEVO, Russia (Reuters) - Volunteers struggled on Friday to shovel up tons of sticky oil from Russia's Black Sea coastline following what President Vladimir Putin has called an ecological disaster.

The oil spilled from two ageing Russian oil tankers that were severely damaged by a weekend storm in the Kerch Strait that separates southern Russia from Crimea, which Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014. One of the vessels split in half, and a crew member was killed, while the other ran aground.

At the sea's edge, volunteers shovelled oil and blackened sand into white sacks to be taken away in trucks, as more viscous black tar drifted in on the waves.

"I've never seen anything like this. I can't even really imagine it. It seems to me that nature will be affected for many decades to come," said one of the volunteers, a woman who gave her first name as Tatiana.

"Even when you remove the top layer of sand, then you step on it and fall through, because there is still fuel oil under the sand."

Volunteers have set up a rescue centre for stricken sea birds such as cormorants, which flapped their wings in distress as oil was wiped from their plumage and syringes were used to feed them. The head of the centre, Evgeniy Vitishko, said some 500 birds had been treated, but more than 30 had died.

The Kerch Strait is a route for exports of Russian grain and fuel products. The two ships were carrying some 9,200 metric tons (62,000 barrels) of oil products in total, of which 40% is estimated to have leaked into the sea.

On Thursday one of the ships' captains was placed in investigative custody for two months and the other was put under house arrest, both on suspicion of violating maritime safety rules.

The disaster happened in an area that provides an important habitat for seabirds and dolphins. Among the worst hit locations is Anapa, a popular tourist resort that is known for its golden, sandy beaches.

State news agency TASS said the contaminated area included more than 45 hectares of a protected nature reserve.

It quoted the emergencies ministry as saying that 6,000 rescuers and volunteers were taking part in clean-up efforts, and more than 3,300 tons of contaminated sand and soil had been collected.

(Reporting by Reuters, writing by Mark Trevelyan; editing by Barbara Lewis)