Russian oil spill disaster

Oil accident in Russia - 15th June 2020

A lot of oil has gone into a river in Russia. It happened when an oil tank in Siberia broke. It is the worst oil accident in Russia's Arctic.

The oil has travelled over 10 miles from the broken tank. Now, emergency teams are trying to clean the river. Workers collect the oil from the water and put it back in tanks.

Russian mining company Nornickel owns the broken tank. They think the tank broke because of climate change. Now, the Arctic is unusually warm and the permafrost is melting . Permafrost is ground that is always frozen. Most of Siberia, where there is a lot of oil, is permafrost.

However, environmental groups say that Nornickel is wrong. They believe the tank broke because Nornickel didn't look after it.

The oil began to leak on 29th May. Since then, over 20,000 tonnes have gone into the Ambarnaya river. The red and brown oil has made the river red.

The Ambarnaya river flows into a freshwater lake. Many people use the lake for drinking water. The oil has now reached the lake.

The clean-up operation has already collected a lot of the oil. However, officials say it will take years for the area to recover.