Hundreds of Dying Birds Are First Victims of Russian Tanker Leak

The scale of the environmental disaster in the Black and Azov seas became apparent yesterday when hundreds of dying birds, covered in oil, were washed up close to where a Russian tanker broke up on Sunday in heavy seas. Mile-long oil slicks were spotted in the narrow Kerch Strait, where the tanker carrying 4,000 tonnes of fuel oil split apart. At least four other ships sank in the storm, with other battered vessels stranded on the shoreline.

Birds seeking shelter on the coast between Ukraine and Russia were covered in a treacly mixture of oil and seaweed - the first evidence of what one Russian official called an "environmental disaster". Hundreds of dead fish were washed up.

The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, ordered his prime minister, Viktor Zubkov, to fly to the scene and take charge of the clean-up and rescue operation. Helicopters searched for five missing seamen, but the number of rescue vessels was cut as the weather worsened yesterday. At least three people died.

Last night environmentalists estimated that 2,000 tonnes of oil had leaked from the stricken tanker, Volganeft-139. They said that the continuing storm and strong winds made it almost impossible for volunteers to begin a coastal clean-up operation.

"This is the largest oil spill accident in Russia in the 21st century," Vladimir Sliviak, co-chairman of the environmental group Ecodefence, said. "The storm is likely to last two days. Until it finishes we can't really calculate the consequences." However he added: "Over the coming months there will be 100,000 tonnes of dead fish. Birds are also quite contaminated; hundreds will die."

At the coastal settlement of Ilyich, halfway between Kavkaz and Novorossiisk, about 100 workers were on the beach using shovels and a bulldozer to scrape globules of oil off the sand. A flock of about 1,000 rails, a species of wetland bird, were huddled on the beach, unable to fly because their feathers were coated with oil. Some were unable to stand.