Diesel leaks again from pipeline in northern Belarus
Besides the officials and specialists being always on alert, local residents, too, remain vigilant, remembering the previous leak. When sensors reported the drop of pressure in the pipeline and an emergency team was dispatched to localize the leak, pensioner Mikalaj Tylkicwas the first to find the hole.
The old man noticed that the water in a soil-reclamation canal smelled fuel. He went to the village council and informed the chairman who later called the emergency authorities.
The pipe burst at 7 a.m. As of now, the pipe leg with the leakage has not yet been removed from the ground. It is unclear what the cause of the burst was. Preliminary, the cause is the same as during the March 23 accident: fatigue of material. To put it simply, the pipe burst because it was old. No wonder. This pipeline leg was constructed over 30 years ago.
According to the chief of the regional department of the Ministry for Emergencies, Vasil Chekan, fuel will not enter the local rivers this time. But, it could, because the irrigation canal is leading simply to River Sviachanka which is also connected to River Ula. Both the Belarusians and the Latvians have learned very well where fuel can get to from Ula…
The canal with fuel (about 3 km-long) was quickly blocked by nine soil banks. Emergency workers also installed a slick bar before River Sviachanka to be on the safe side. On May 5, local residents used buckets and jerricans to fetch fuel during the whole morning. They said there was half-meter of water and about one meter of fuel above in the canal. Many people were stocking on the free fuel, but nobody complained about the “looters”.
Experts are probing water in River Sviachanka. As of now, there are no traces of fuel found. But, the environment protection authorities are worried. According to Dzmitry Talstoj, the chief of the local environment protection agency, the aftermath of the previous accident has not been fully cleaned up.
The contaminated soil is not accepted even at special grounds. It requires treatment by special chemical agents right on the spot.
This fresh accident on this pipeline raises questions whether the Unecha-Ventspils pipeline should remain in operation, according to Belarus’s Minister for Emergencies Enver Baryeu who talked to the Belarusian TV.
Photo by www.camarade.biz
