Fourth Russian Tanker in a Week Breaks Down Near Kuril Islands in the Pacific

The Russian tanker Mercury, carrying a crew of 19, lost propulsion in the Pacific Ocean due to a failure of its main engine, according to the Russian Emergency Ministry’s office in Sakhalin on December 17.

The incident occurred 50 kilometers northeast of Simushir Island, part of the Kuril Islands chain.

On the evening of December 17, the vessel issued a distress signal to the maritime rescue coordination center in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. The rescue ship Rubin was dispatched to tow the disabled tanker to port.

This marks the fourth tanker incident involving Russian vessels in the past week.

During the night of December 16–17, the tanker Volgoneft 109 issued a distress signal near the Port of Kavkaz. The captain reported a breach in the fourth cargo tank, which led to fuel oil seeping into a ballast tank. While the hull of the ship remained intact and no oil was spilled into the water, the vessel was carrying 4,000 tons of fuel oil at the time. Fourteen crew members were onboard.

On December 15, 2 other Russian tankers—Volgoneft 212 and Volgoneft 239—were involved in a maritime disaster in the Kerch Strait.

The incident resulted in 1 fatality, and 11 crew members were hospitalized in critical condition. Volgoneft 212 broke apart and sank during the incident.

Preliminary reports suggest that more than 4,200 cubic meters of oil products could have leaked into the sea out of the total 9,000 cubic meters being transported.

The spill caused significant environmental damage, with dozens of kilometers of the Krasnodar Krai shoreline coated in oil.