Volunteers helping to clean up a major oil spill along Russia's Black Sea coast appealed in a video released on Monday for President Vladimir Putin to urgently send federal aid, saying that they and local authorities were overwhelmed.

The thick oil slick on the water’s surface endangers the growth and development of marine life, both at sea and along the coastline. For example, oil sticks to a bird’s feathers, causing them to mat and separate, impairing the waterproofing of the feathers.

Efforts to rescue affected wildlife are underway. A rescue center has treated about 500 oil-soaked birds, including cormorants, but over 30 have died

Volunteers struggled on Friday to shovel up tons of sticky oil from Russia's Black Sea coastline following what President Vladimir Putin has called an ecological disaster. The oil spilled from two ageing Russian oil tankers that were severely damaged by a weekend storm in the Kerch Strait that separates southern Russia from Crimea,

Video appears to show one of the tankers broken in half and sinking amid a heavy storm, with oil visible in the water.

A major environmental disaster is unfolding along southern Russia’s Black Sea coast after a storm damaged two oil tankers last weekend, spilling thousands of tons of heavy fuel that has now washed ashore.