The volunteers have gathered and removed from the seashore about
5 tons of oil-polluted sand and seaweed. The main challenge though
was not the cleaning, but carrying the waste from the coastline up
the seashore steep slopes. Luckily for volunteers, some locals
agreed to provide them with a truck to bring the waste up to the
road.
"We do understand that we are unable to clean a large area all
by ourselves, but we have no choice. State officials refuse to
provide us support, though their statements about the full-scale
clean-up operation here are not true. The spill is being cleaned
only at Chushka and Tuzla Spits, whereas in Kuchugury village area
the oil is just being buried in the sand", Greenpeace response team
head Dmitry Artamonov says. "We want to show the government that it
is unacceptable to postpone the shore cleaning works as well as to
refuse the volunteers' help especially if the cleaning crews lack
workers".
Even if a thousand workers and cleanup equipment is deployed,
the complete clean-up of Azov coastal areas will take many weeks,
states Greenpeace. The area where the volunteers have gathered 5 tons of oily sand and
seaweed, was only 50 sq. m. Also fuel oil is being covered with
sand and seashells, and it will be more and more difficult to
remove it as the time passes.
"It seems the government is not going to clean this area at all.
Probably, they hope that oil will soon be buried by sand and nobody
will see anything," adds Artamonov.
Fuel oil causes great damage to the marine and coastal
ecosystems. Greenpeace urges the government to start clean-up
operation in all the polluted areas as soon as possible, providing
sufficient manpower and cleanup equipment..