Divers collect fuel oil in Anapa against the backdrop of vacationers

The operational headquarters reported the collection of 266 bags of fuel oil from the seabed over the past 24 hours. Vacationers in Dzhemete settled near divers who are collecting fuel oil from the seabed.

As the "Caucasian Knot" wrote, in Anapa the dismantling of two of the three sections of the sand rampart that protected the shore from fuel oil emissions has been completed. Vacationers are visiting beaches where sand cleaning is underway despite the ban, the head of the work reported.

On July 26, divers collected and raised 266 bags of fuel oil to the shore near the mouth of the Mozhepsin River in Anapa, the Krasnodar Territory operational headquarters reported today.

"In the village of Dzhemete in Anapa, work continues to clean the seabed of oil products. Employees of the Russian Emergencies Ministry, the Kuban-SPAS emergency rescue team and the Marine Rescue Service are involved in the work," the report said.

Divers make 2-4 swims a day, the 93.ru publication reported.

"When there is a storm, we work less because visibility is worse. But otherwise we make two to four swims a day, sometimes more. Sometimes it gets to the point that when we start lifting something, fuel oil stains are floating, people come and say: "What are you doing, you are preventing us from swimming." Nothing stops them," the diver is quoted as saying in the publication.

The rescue and emergency vehicles on the beach in Dzhemete are 15 meters away from the vacationers. A rope is stretched next to the vehicles, on which diving suits with traces of fuel oil are drying, the publication says.

The owner of a guest house from Dzhemete said that before, owners often had to refuse vacationers, there were no places. "Our beach is not very [clean]. We have a diver's car here. And a little further the sand is already clean. <...> Now 7 of our 26 rooms are occupied, I don't know how to live, there is no help for us. We are self-employed and work," the publication quoted her as saying.

Recall that Rospotrebnadzor has recognized 141 beaches in Anapa and nine beaches in the Temryuk district as unsuitable for recreation. Signs with information about the ban on swimming have been installed there, and announcements about this are also displayed on video screens in different areas of Anapa.

In addition, government officials are patrolling coastal areas and asking vacationers not to visit these places. When checking into hotels and resorts, tourists are required to sign written notices about the ban on swimming and health risks.

On December 15, 2024, two tankers carrying fuel oil sank in the Kerch Strait, leading to catastrophic environmental consequences. Details can be found in the "Caucasian Knot" reference "Fuel oil spill in the Kerch Strait".

Materials about the consequences of the fuel oil spill have been collected by the "Caucasian Knot" on the thematic page "Eco-disaster in Kuban".