AKTAU, Kazakhstan, May 5 (UPI) -- An oil discharge in the Kazakh sector of the Caspian Sea has led to the mass deaths of fish and seals, Interfax-Kazakhstan reported Thursday.
Yklas Nogayev, head of the Mangistau region department for environmental protection, was quoted by Interfax-Kazakhstan as saying he believed the mass deaths that had been reported near the Kalamkas deposit in Mangistau region Tuesday were linked to an oil discharge that followed an accident at an oil borehole.
Speaking to journalists in Aktau Thursday, he said: "More than a thousand denizens of the Caspian Sea have died due to the emergency discharge of contaminative substances at one of the oil boreholes. There was a serious domestic contamination of the sea. Although this is my personal opinion, I am more than confident that it is the only correct account of the incident.
"Unfortunately, we do not know at which of the boreholes the discharge occurred. We will never find out this, because we do not carry out monitoring. This is not the first such incident. Unfortunately, mankind has not yet invented the accident-free methods of work. The carrying out of oil exploration work in such a closed inland sea as Caspian is incompatible with the sea's biological resources," Nogayev said.
According to Nogayev, 1,068 dead sturgeons and 95 dead seals have been found so far.
"They (the carcasses) have decayed badly, and there is no sense in sending them for testing. We will not be able to obtain reliable analyses anyway," Nogayev said, refuting suggestions that the deaths were a result of poaching.
