From the very beginning of the recent natural disaster in Ukraine the permanent commission on emergencies liquidation under the Cabinet of Ministers started to work, Victor Yanukovych claimed to a press conference after a commission session.
According to him, the commission members were working since the morning of November 11 and continue around-the-clock work now.
“Just now I held a sitting at which, first of all, we have summed up the work fulfilled and planned measures on liquidation of extraordinary disaster. They are aimed at, firstly, liquidating consequences in the Kerch Strait and at the Azov Sea coast and in the regions left without power and underflooded houses. All measures are active and timely”, Victor Yanukovych claimed.
According to the Prime Minister, as regards the future, “we should take into consideration the further exploitation order of the Kerch Strait”. He stressed that it is very important to take into account consequences of the natural disaster and to work through with our neighbor – Russia, all measures on preventing natural disaster. “In other words, we believe that today the Ukraine-Russia cooperation on liquidation of this disaster confirms that we should jointly determine the rules and jointly comply with them”, he noted.
“In this situation we have constantly communicated with President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko and we have concluded, as regards the prospect, we should work through this issue with consideration of the opinion of scientists, experts and from the point of view of international experience. As an instance, exploitation of the Bosporus and Dardanelles Straits where traffic of tankers without double bottom is impossible. What is the difference of the Kerch Strait? No difference”, the Prime Minister emphasized.
“There is a question – why, after we have been reported about storm warning and shipping in the area have been warned well in advance of heavy storms, there were so many vessels after it. We have much to clear up yet. There are laws in Ukraine and we’ll investigate who has broken it. We’ll surely report our further steps on liquidation of this extraordinary disaster and exploitation of the Kerch Strait”, Victor Yanukovych said.
As UNIAN reported earlier, the storming wind which started blowing on November 10 overnight continued practically all day long on November 11 and had very grave consequences in Crimea and at the Azov Sea coast in Zaporizhya and Donetsk regions.
The “Volzhsky -139” tanker broke in two in the Kerch Strait at a range of about 6 miles from the coast spilling 1200 tonnes of fuel oil. There are no victims among the crew.
The dry cargo “Volnogirsk” loaded with about 2 thousand 100 tonnes of sulfur sank by the Kerch port. The crew members were drifting on the life raft in the Kerch Strait, boats of the Border Service of Ukraine rushed to its help.
The Ukrainian vessel “Vira Voloshyna” ran aground near the Kapsel Bay (Sudak) with 18 crew members on board. Besides, 2 barges loaded with black oil ran aground by the Tuzla Island.
Many settlements of Crimea were blackout. On November 11 and November 12 overnight as a consequence of worsening of weather conditions (strong precipitations as sleet, rain and wind gusts sometimes of 30-35 m/s) and active power line protection automation 2 thousand 360 settlements were left without power in 16 regions of Ukraine and in the AR of Crimea. In Berdyansk the storm caused underflooding of above 80 houses.
