site.btaOil Spill Containment Exercise Takes Place on Danube River near Ruse

A large-scale exercise related to limiting an oil spill on the Danube River was organized on Wednesday near Ruse, Regional Governor Dragomir Draganov said. He stressed that this is the second largest exercise in the Bulgarian territory of the Danube in the last 20 years, adding that all competent institutions are involved.

"Considering the incidents that occurred in neighboring countries, such as the one in Serbia, we are playing this exercise in order to synchronize all institutions, namely both the executive branch and the municipalities and volunteer units," Draganov explained.

As part of the training and in order to minimize damage in the event of a real fuel spill, two cascade lines of boom barriers, each up to 100 metres long, were deployed. Mechanical cleaning of oil deposits on land, as well as treatment of the coastline with sorbents, are also being trained.

Captain Kamen Ivanov, head of the Emergency and Rescue Activity - Danube River Department at the Maritime Administration Executive Agency, stated that these exercises provide all structures of the Unified Rescue System with the opportunity to synchronize their actions. "The Danube River falls into the category of fast-flowing waters, since its current speed is 4-5 kilometres per hour, and if urgent measures are not taken, within an hour the pollution will be spread over an area of ​​more than 5 kilometres," he underscored, adding that fortunately such an incident has not been registered for a long time in the Bulgarian section of the Danube.

Navy Vice Admiral Rumen Nikolov, Director of the Emergency and Rescue Activities Directorate at the same executive agency, stated that these exercises also contribute to the testing of technical means purchased under EU programmes, as well as with public money. "I believe that both on the Danube River and in other sites this interaction will be achieved with many trainings. I think that this exercise proves once again that the coordination between forces and means must be at the necessary level in order to be able to keep our banks clean," Nikolov noted.