MOSCOW, Russia (AP) – The governor of Russia's Pacific Island Island region in Sakhalin has declared a state of emergency after a Chinese cargo ship stranded off the southwest coast.
There was no danger to the crew of Yang2 carrying coal and heavy fuel oil, Gov. Valerie Limalenko said in a Telegram post on Sunday. The Russian emergency ministry said it had a crew of 20 people on board.
Limalenko said no fuel spills were recorded, but local authorities had to be prepared for any scenario. He added that the bad weather has prevented rescue teams from accessing bulk carriers bound by shallow waters in Sakhalin's Nevelsky district.
Regional authorities said they were preparing to drain fuel from the damaged vessel, placing the corner about 200 meters (650 feet) offshore.
Earlier this year, hundreds of volunteers from southwestern Russia spent weeks trying to contain a massive fuel oil spill from two storm-hit tankers in the Kerch Straits near Crimea.
The Sakhalin region in the Far East of Russia consists of a large island of the same name and four Kuril Islands. This is the subject of decades of territorial disputes between Russia and Japan, preventing them from signing a peace treaty. The end of World War II.
At the end of the war, Soviet forces captured islands known in Japan as Northern Territories, and Russia has since maintained control.
