Russia in state of emergency after diesel fuel spill in Norilsk

MOSCOW/KRASNOYARSK, Jun 4 (PRIME) -- Russia has introduced a federal level emergency due to a diesel fuel spill in Norilsk on a power plant of Norilsk Nickel, and a rescue team of about 190 people is working on the site, according to the statements of the Emergency Ministry, seen by PRIME late on Wednesday.

According to the prosecutors, the contamination area amounts to 180,000 square meters. "The area of oil product contamination until the Ambarnaya River, where protective booms are set (made of non-soaking material allowing to hold down the spread of oil product spills on the water), stood at 180,000 square meters," the authority said. About 20,000 tonnes of diesel fuel leaked.

Head of the Federal Service for Supervision of Natural Resources Svetlana Radionova said that concentration of contaminants in the rivers where the fuel leaked exceeded the allowed maximum by tens of thousand times.

Norilsk Mayor Rinat Akhmetchin said that the city knew about the spill on May 29 but were unaware of the scale. "It was said that oil leaked from quite a big cistern. We did not know the amount of fuel that leaked on Friday evening," the official said. Emergency Minister Yevgeny Zinichev said that the ministry received the information about the accident only two days later.

President Vladimir Putin asked the law enforcement authorities to assess work of local state officials. 

First Vice President of Norilsk Nickel Sergei Dyachenko said that the clearance of water from the spill would take two weeks. It is unclear what to do with the collected fuel, he said.

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