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Hunt continues for missing sailors

  • Story Highlights
  • Hundreds join clean up operation, search for 20 missing sailors
  • Five ships sank in storms on Sunday, many others ran aground
  • An oil tanker split in half, spilling more than 1,000 tons of fuel oil
  • Environmental group Greenpeace says spill is "environmental disaster"
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MOSCOW, Russia (CNN) -- More than 700 people worked Tuesday to find 20 sailors still missing from weekend storms and to clean up oil which spilled from a tanker that sank in the Black Sea, Russian officials said.

The Russian Rescue Service confirmed three sailors were killed in the storms.

The sailors were from a cargo ship carrying sulfur which sank in the Kerch Strait at the north end of the Black Sea; five members of the ship's crew were among the missing, the rescue service said.

The 15 other missing sailors were aboard a freighter carrying scrap metal which sank in another part of the northern Black Sea, according to the rescue service.

The official Russia Today Web site said the missing were feared dead.

The rescue service said 730 people were working on the rescue and cleanup efforts. They were using 13 vessels and four helicopters, along with hundreds of pieces of machinery.

Still, continued bad weather in the northern Black Sea region meant rescue crews worked for only two hours on Monday, Russia Today reported.

The Web site said relatives of the missing were arriving at the port city of Temryuk, on the Russian side of the Kerch Strait, and that local authorities were trying to provide the families with accommodation and support.

Five ships sank in the storms on Sunday and many others ran aground. Of the five which sank, one was an oil tanker which split in half and sank in the strait, spilling more than 1,000 tons of fuel oil.

As the oil began washing ashore, birds covered in black were seen dead or struggling on the Black Sea's beaches. Environmental group Greenpeace called the oil spill an "environmental disaster" and expressed concern for marine life.

The Russian and Ukrainian prime ministers planned to inspect the rescue operations and examine the environmental damage, Russia Today reported.

Three ships, each carrying more than 2,000 tons of sulfur, also sank in the Kerch Strait, which separates Russia from Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula. The freighter carrying scrap metal sank on other side of the Crimean Peninsula from the strait.

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Sunday's weather brought hurricane-force winds and gigantic waves to the Black Sea. Strong winds and occasional heavy rain continued over the area Tuesday, CNN Forecaster Jenny Harrison said, and the weather was expected to worsen Thursday.

Russia Today reported sea temperatures were hovering around 9 degrees Celsius (48 degrees Fahrenheit). E-mail to a friend E-mail to a friend

CNN's Igor Malakhov contributed to this report.

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