Some interesting occurrences at Sea

Dear (s)

The Kerch strait connects the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov.  See the photo below for the location.

This place between Ukraine and Russia is in the news for wrong  reasons as waves  smashed a Russian tanker and caused sinking of a few more.  An environmental disaster began to unfold  as  tens of thousands of oil-slicked seabirds and globules of heavy oil dotted the shoreline. In a worst ecological disaster,  Five-metre high waves smashed a Russian tanker in half on 11th of Nov, spilling 1,300 tonnes of fuel oil into the Kerch Strait. Another cargo ship carrying 2,000 tonnes of sulphur sank nearby and its nine crew members were stranded on a raft amid 108-kilometre (67-mile) per hour winds . A third ship was damaged in the storm and a total of 50 vessels were being evacuated from Kavkaz, a busy commercial port in the Kerch Strait, some 1,200 kilometres (746 miles) south of Moscow, Russian news agencies reported.  It was reported that the  prow and the stern of the oil tanker belonging to Russian oil firm Volganeft tore apart in the storm. Rescue efforts were being hampered by the harsh weather conditions. The Volganeft-139 oil tanker was at anchor when it broke up, officials said. Three tugboats, two Russian and one Ukrainian, were trying to attach cables to the stern of the ship to stop it from drifting.   Here are some photos of the floundering ships :

2) crew being rescued

 3)  vessels going down 

Elsewhere, the islanders of the Dutch were in for a different surprise recently as thousands were washed up on  two Dutch islands in the North Sea after several containers fell off a cargo ship in a storm in a distinctly separate incident.  The  beaches on Terschelling and Ameland islands were littered with bunches of unripe fruit - to the delight of some local residents. It was not clear if the bananas were edible after floating in salty water.

The bananas were washed up after at least six containers fell off the ship transporting the fruit from Cuba. Hours later about 1km (0.6 mile) stretch of a beach on the island was littered with the bananas. Intriguingly, Local authorities  were in talks with the ship's insurance company on what to do with the bananas even amidst suggestions of local residents of sending them to Dutch Zoos.

Interesting facts !!!!!  Have some opinion;  please share …………

With regards - S Sampathkumar.

PS :  Shared with my group through e-mail on 14-11-2007 and posted on the blog now.