Experts study the area of chemical spill on Commandor Islands

The commission of the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources has flown to the area of the spill of chemicals on the Commandor Islands, the Special Marine Inspectorate of the Ministry of Natural Resources has told RIA Novosti this Saturday.

The commission will assess the damage done to the animals and birds of the Commandor preserve as a result of the spill of the 20-ton container with tetraethyleneglycol of DuPont company thrown out by the waves onto the coastal rocks of the Bering island.

As deputy head of the Special Marine Inspectorate Sergei Danigevich has said, the decision on specific measures to clean up the ecological disaster will be taken after the situation is assessed.

According to him, the company itself has prepared a lawsuit against the carrier. Apart from the loss of the cargo, the carrier will be held liable for the damage done to the image of DuPont whose name is now associated with the ecological disaster on the Commandor Islands.

DuPont is ready to assume all expenses for the ecological disaster clean-up, Danigevich said.

About 50 cormorants have fallen victim to the disaster. Several dozen more birds have their plumage stuck together. An expert study will show whether the death of a fur seal was caused by the chemical spill.

The container with the toxic organic substance, thrown out by the waves onto the Bering Island on July 29, had been on board the Villa Datania vessel (Marseille, France, as the registry port) and was designated to be delivered to the port of Pusan, Korea. The container was lost in March, presumably in the area of the Aleutian Islands, 100 miles off the Bering Island.

In the spring of 2003 the Commandor Islands received the status of an international biospheric preserve and belong to world nature heritage.

The coasts of the Commandor Islands are home to 21 species of whales and cetaceans while about 300,000 fur seals and sea lions, and also over 500,000 rare northern birds inhabit the islands.