MOSCOW (AFP) - Russian environmentalists warned Sunday that a 1,300-tonne fuel oil spill from a tanker smashed by high winds off the country's southern coast will cause an "ecological catastrophe".
"This is a major ecological catastrophe," Vladimir Slivyak, head of Ekozashchita, or Ecodefense, a Russian environmental group, was quoted by Interfax news agency as saying.
"The pollution that has taken place will have to be cleaned up for a long time to come and the consequences will be felt for a year or even more."
Sergei Baranovsky, head of Russia's Green Cross, another environmental group, said the sinking of two cargo ships carrying sulphur during the storm would also cause environmental damage.