An unusually heavy storm sank five ships in the Kerch Strait, which connects the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. Three of the sunken ships were freighters carrying sulfur and one was a river tanker carrying fuel oil. The tanker, which was reportedly unfit for sea navigation, split in half in the storm, spilling over 2,000 tons of oil into the sea.

Russian Emergencies Ministry launched an operation to clear up the polluted coast. Russian Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov and Emergencies Minister Sergei Shoigu personally flew to the Black Sea coast to oversee the effort.

"What has happened in the Kerch Strait has already been called the most massive shipwreck in modern Russian history," Zubkov said. "The consequences for the environment are the most depressing and what is important - people have died and five people are still missing."

Experts said that the oil spill had inflicted heavy damage to the region's environment, most of all to the fish and the bird population. Up to 30,000 birds were killed and the damage to the fish population could be even higher.

In mid-December, First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov announced at a government session that the contamination from the oil spill had been eliminated.

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