Russia has declared a state of emergency after 20,000 tonnes of diesel oil leaked into Ambarnaya river within the Arctic Circle turning river’s surface crimson red.
The river is part of a network that flows into the environmentally sensitive Arctic Ocean.
The spill happened when a fuel tank at a power plant near the Siberian city of Norilsk collapsed, which is owned by a subsidiary of Norilsk Nickel-the world’s leading nickel and palladium producer.
The power plant is located near the Region’s Norilsk city, around 3000 km northeast of Moscow.
Greenpeace has compared it to the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster in Alaska.
