Port or tanker
Volgoneft 212 and 239 — Kerch Strait tanker breakups and mazut spill
15 December 2024
Kerch Strait, Black Sea, Russia
What happened
The tankers Volgoneft 212 and Volgoneft 239 broke apart in a storm at the southern end of the Kerch Strait. Volgoneft 212 split and sank, killing one crew member. Volgoneft 239 also split; its bow sank and its stern grounded near Port Kavkaz. Both vessels leaked mazut heavy fuel oil. The IOPC Funds reported estimates ranging from 2,400 to 5,000 tonnes spilled. This combined marker represents the two closely linked casualties and shared pollution response rather than treating them as an attack.
When cited sources give different casualty, damage or spill figures for this event, they’re reported side by side above rather than merged into one number. See how confidence levels work.
- Evidence
- Documented
- Confidence
- High
- Infrastructure
- Port or tanker
- Latitude
- 45.0800°
- Longitude
- 36.6100°
Attribution
Responsibility has not been established in the cited reporting.