THE IRISH Coast Guard has said that it is “more optimistic” about the impact of a 500-tonne oil slick drifting eastwards some 55km off the south coast.
Winds due to veer north to northwest overnight will help to keep the slick offshore, and weather conditions forecast for the weekend could help to break it up naturally, Irish Coast Guard director Chris Reynolds said.
However, there is still a risk it could affect the southeast coastline in the next fortnight, and the British authorities also fear a negative impact on their coast. The slick was lying 55km south of the Old Head of Kinsale yesterday.
So far, the Russian navy has not accepted responsibility for the incident, but the Russian Federation’s embassy in Dublin said it was “ready to co-operate”.
The navy's flagship aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov, which has been linked to the spill, was heading northwards off the Mayo coastline last night with its refuelling tanker and tug.
An embassy spokesman said a reported denial of responsibility was inaccurate. “The Russian navy didn’t deny this, but said that the spill might be less than that reported in the media,” the spokesman said. “It has neither confirmed nor denied it.”
The Russian Federation is conducting an internal investigation, and a request from the Irish Coast Guard for samples of fuel from the aircraft carrier and its tanker has been forwarded to Moscow, the spokesman said.
The embassy has also been invited to send a representative to Irish Coast Guard headquarters in Dublin for a briefing.
Ireland and Britain may have to bear the cost of any clean-up if the fuel oil in tar balls is washed ashore, as military vessels are exempt from the sea pollution Act. It was during examination of routine satellite images collected by the European Maritime Safety Agency’s oil-spill detection service last Saturday that the alert was raised.
The spill was first photographed about 80km southeast of the Fastnet Rock, and the Russian aircraft carrier was refuelling in the area at the time. The safety agency said it would continue to monitor the progress of the slick.