Oil spill reaches Russia's Tuapse central beach after river overflow video

Oil products have washed ashore on the Central Beach in the Russian city of Tuapse after heavy rainfall caused the Tuapse River to overflow, according to the post by the operational headquarters of Krasnodar Territory on Telegram.

The surge in water levels led to oil products breaching containment booms and spreading beyond the river into the coastal zone, affecting both the sea area and the shoreline.

Authorities said that collection efforts have been organised downstream in the riverbed, where part of the spilt oil products had already reached open waters and the beach. The response operation involves personnel and equipment from Rosnefteflot, the professional emergency rescue formation EKOSPAS, and the local marine terminal.

Additional support has been provided by Kuban-SPAS, with rescue teams dispatched from Adler, Apsheronsk, Krasnodar, Sochi, and Tuapse. In total, 66 personnel, 14 units of equipment, two vessels, and two oil recovery systems have been deployed to contain and eliminate the spill.

Cleanup efforts are continuing under a state of emergency that has been in place in Tuapse since April 16. The emergency was declared following an earlier fire at the marine terminal, which resulted in oil products leaking into the river. According to the operational headquarters, the fire was "caused by a UAV attack attributed to the Kyiv regime".

By Tamilla Hasanova