Dangerous chemical which poured out of American barrel near Russia's coast destroyed

The utilisation of the dangerous chemical that poured out of an American container thrown by waves onto the Komandorski Islands in the Far East of Russia six weeks ago has been completed. As RIA Novosti was told by a representative of Dupont company which the container belonged to, 3.8 cu m of diheptanoat tetraethylenglycol was burnt in a special furnace in a quarry on the Kamchatka Peninsula. The utilisation took about 24 hours.

All the expenditures related to the utilisation of the container and the chemical were paid by the Dupont company.

Last spring the 20-tonne container was lost during the transportation to Korea by sea. At the end of July waves brought it onto the Russian Komandorski Islands near Kamchatka which have recently received the status of international biosphere preserve. After the container hit the coastal stones over 16 tons of the chemical poured out into the sea.

Herds of 21 species of whales and cetaceans live in the littoral waters of these islands, and about 300,000 fur-seals and sea lions and more than 500,000 rare northern birds populate the islands themselves.

Only part of the dangerous chemical which remained in the container was utilised on Kamchatka. Monitoring of the environmental situation, financed by Dupont, will be carried out during a year in the place where the rest poured out.