Koala fuel oil tanker sinks in the seaport of Ust-Luga in the Leningrad region

Stranded tanker loaded with fuel oil Koala ("Koala") drowns in the seaport of Ust-Luga in the Leningrad region.

The fact that the tanker ran aground in the port of Ust-Luga today, February 9, was reported by the press service of the Leningrad Region administration.

"A man—made incident occurred on the tanker during engine start-up, as a result, the engine room was damaged," Governor Alexander Drozdenko said.

According to him, the ship was moored at the pier, the crew managed to quickly evacuate to shore, no one was injured.

As the governor emphasized, there is no threat of oil spill. Measures are being taken to inspect the engine room. The causes of the accident are being established.

According to media reports, there are 130 thousand tons of fuel oil in the Koala tanker. At night, the ship was preparing to sail when several explosions sounded in the engine room. The crew was safely able to get out of the side to the shore — there were 24 people on the ship, including four Russians, there were no casualties, the Readovka telegram channel writes.

After the explosions, the engine room began to flood with water, the ship ran aground. At the moment, no fuel oil leakage has been recorded, however, operational services have installed booms around the vessel.