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2010-02-08 14:05:15 - Enviroment Pollution - Russia EDIS CODE: ED-20100208-24847-RUS
Date & Time: 2010-02-08 14:05:15 [UTC]
Area: Russia, Republica of Buryatia, Zaigrayevsky District, Damage level: Moderate (Level 2)
Not confirmed information! Description: About 10 tonnes of crude oil were spilt from overturned tank cars as a result of a freight train crash in the Zaigrayevsky district of the Buryatia republic near the Chelutai station of the Trans-Siberian Railway. The press service of the East Siberian Railway (VSZD) told Itar-Tass on Monday that the “oil has been localised and reagents binding it have been delivered to the site.” According to the press service head Yevgeny Khokhryakov, “The cause of the accident is being ascertained, a commission headed by VSZD head Anatoly Krasnoshchekov is working.” “Now we are pumping out the oil spill that has not got outside the railway bank,” he said. “There is no fire danger as a result of the incident,” Khokhryakov stressed. More than 150 people have been engaged in the emergency liquidation efforts. According to the response headquarters, 75 metres of railway tracks, one traffic light and one turnout switch were damaged. Restoration trains have been working at the incident site, measures were taken to prevent the further spreading of the oil spill.
According to the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry’s main department for Buryatia, a duty officer of VSZD reported about the incident to the Russian Emergencies Ministry’s Crisis Management Centre in Buryatia at 19:02, Moscow time on February 7. The information suggested that seven tanks cars with crude oil derailed one kilometre east of the Chelutai station at 18:30, Moscow time. Five of the railway tank cars were lying on their side and there was a leak of petroleum products from three tank cars. About 60-70 metres of railway tracks were damaged. The train traffic was closed both ways. The emergency restoration efforts continued on Monday morning. “The evacuation of the population of Chelutai (180 houses with more than 450 dwellers) was not considered,” the emergencies centre explained. The Republic of Buryatia is a subject of the Russian Federation and is included in Siberian Federal District. The administrative, economic and cultural centre of the Republic is the city of Ulan-Ude. The distance from Ulan-Ude to Moscow by railroad is 5,519 km and to the Pacific Ocean – 3,500 km. The total area of the Republic of Buryatia is 351,3 thousand square km. Buryatia is located in the southern part of East Siberia to the southeast of Lake Baikal.
It borders on Mongolia in the south, on the Republic of Tuva in the southwest, on the Irkutsk oblast in the northwest and on the Chita oblast in the east. There are 23 municipalities, 6 towns, 29 urban villages and 615 settlements on the territory of Buryatia. The urban population makes about 60 percent of the total number of the population of the Republic and rural population is about 40 percent, about two-thirds of the whole population of Buryatia live in its capital. The native people of the republic are Buryats, Evenks and Soyots. The national structure of Buryatia according to the Census of 1989 was the following: Russians- 70 percent, Buryats- 24 percent, Ukrainians- 2,2 percent, other nationalities- 3,8 percent.
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